The Viral But Controversial Photo Of Feminist Activists Menstruating And Defecating On An ISIS Flag

The Islamic State is known by several names.

From ISIL to ISIS, the militant Islamist group and former unrecognized quasi-state has received global attention and prominence after it drove Iraqi security forces out of key cities during the Anbar campaign, as well as during the capture of Mosul, and also following the Sinjar massacre.

In all, the jihadist group with a particularly violent ideology, that also calls itself a caliphate and claims religious authority over all Muslims, is known to use social media for recruitment and fundraising.

And this time, two feminist activists fought back against the group on the internet by creating a controversy.

The photo, with some less NSFW ones, was uploaded to a blog page by Aliaa Magda Elmahdy (Aliaa al-Mahdy), but was made viral when it was reshared by Inna Shevchenko, founder of the controversial feminist group FEMEN, which is known for its topless protests against prostitution and religious oppression of women.

In the photo, Elmahdy, an Egyptian blogger and feminist activist, is seen squatting on top of an ISIS flag while menstruating. Adding to the insult, she displayed full frontal nudity, including her vulva, to the camera.

And also in the photo, Elmahdy is with another young woman, dressed in a black garment with her head covered. She has her back to the camera as she apparently defecates on the same ISIS flag while raising her middle finger.

The letters "ISIS" are painted in black letters on their bare bodies, while presumably fake machine guns are seeing on the floor in the background.

Shevchenko confirmed in a statement that the action is indeed a concerted protest under the roof of FEMEN.

Shevchenko, a Ukrainian activist living in Paris, said that it's considered "hypocritical" to call the image violent as compared to the violent actions of the Islamic State.

"We are not afraid of being criticized for the way we responded," she said. "We are not threatening to kill. We just wanted to say: This is how ideas are treated."

ISIS is not also known for its brutal violence, but also for its members' mistreatment and enslavement of women.

By smearing the ISIS flag with women's blood and feces, Shevchenko described the photo as a powerful image for desecrating ISIS.

According to Elmahdy, the 23-year-old woman wrote on her Facebook Page and Twitter account, that she had received death threats.

The other young woman in the photograph has also received threats.

It didn't take long until the photo was removed from her Facebook Page.

This isn't the first time Madhy has elicited international attention for her nude acts of protest.

As a matter fact, Elmahdy is known as an activist who frequently held protests for issues happening around the world while naked.

For example, back in October 2011, Elmahdy posted a nude self-portrait on her blog, describing the image as an act of protest against rampant misogyny in the Egyptian culture, and the feelings of shame associated with the female body and the endemic of sexual harassment plaguing Egyptian streets.

But it's her affiliation with FEMEN that only made it worse.

Elmahdy joined FEMEN in December 2012, when she was amongst the protesters with the FEMEN group outside the Egyptian Embassy in Stockholm, appearing nude with the words "Sharia is not a constitution” written across her naked body while she raised an Egyptian flag to protest the Muslim Brotherhood’s domination of the 2012 Constitution drafting process.

Elmahdy has not only drawn fire from conservative and Islamist groups, but also from other feminist and women’s rights groups, as well.

The backlash is because FEMEN, the feminist protest group founded in the Ukraine in 2008, is known for organizing nude protests to draw attention to women’s rights issues.

The group has been accused of being Eurocentric and exploiting women’s bodies in the interests of its own gain and self-promotion.

As a result of this, lawmakers from the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups have called for a ban on Mahdy’s return to Egypt, while others pressed for the revocation of her citizenship.

Elmahdy was physically assaulted in Egypt and threatened with arrest, and this forced her to sought political asylum in 2013, before residing in Norway.

Elmahdy describes herself as a "secular, liberal, feminist, vegetarian, individualist Egyptian." The woman who has identified herself as an atheist since turning 16, said that her activisms are her screams against a society of "violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy"

While she indeed gained controversies throughout the years, she also gained supporters.

For example, a number of Egyptian expatriates and Western-based Arab journalists, as well as a number of representatives at American art community, have all expressed their support. A number of women from Israel have also gathered via Facebook to "show support in a non-violent and legitimate way for a woman who is just like us – young, ambitious, full of dreams and evidently has a developed sense of humor."

"Homage to Aliaa Elmahdy. Sisters in Israel," a banner they were holding in a photo reads.