If This Is Malala, She's Taking a Lot of Heat for This Photo

Commenters are bashing woman resembling Pakistani activist for her Western-style clothing
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 19, 2017 6:11 AM CDT
If This Is Malala, She's Taking a Lot of Heat for This Photo
Is this Malala?   (Facebook)

Malala Yousafzai has fought for women's rights and children's education rights, and now she may have to speak out on her right to wear whatever she wants. The Telegraph reports that the 20-year-old Oxford University student and Nobel Prize laureate, who fell under the international limelight after she was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012, has been facing online attacks from fellow Pakistanis after a picture that allegedly shows her in the UK started circulating on social media. The issues with the woman in the picture posted on the Siasat Facebook page, if it is indeed Malala: She's wearing jeans and heeled boots, is walking around unaccompanied by her dad, and is sporting her dupatta headscarf, among other complaints.

The Independent notes the photo appears to have been shot on Cornmarket Street, a popular shopping area in Oxford. Malala or not, the woman in the photo is taking heat for her attire, with the Indian Express publishing comments comparing her to Lebanese-American porn star Mia Khalifa, asking when she's going to ditch her headscarf, and calling her "shameless." Some, meanwhile, don't think it's Malala at all. But many others rushed to the defense of "Malala," with one Twitter user reposting the image and tweeting: "Finally, a picture of @Malala where she is just being a normal young woman." A Pakistani politician even weighed in. "Our #MalalaYousafzai of #Swat looks great in jeans. Can't understand why her choice of clothes is a problem for some. Pak haters get a life!" tweets ex-National Assembly member Bushra Gohar. (More Malala Yousafzai stories.)

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