The newest U. N. Women Goodwill Ambassador sure isn’t wasting any time getting to work.
Actress Emma Watson has joined the long list of women outraged over a Turkish politician’s recent statement that women should not laugh in public — and she posted a photo to prove it.
.@UN_Women @phumzileunwomen @e_nyamayaro pic.twitter.com/YkvWKN3iqo
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) August 1, 2014
Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc spoke out strongly on July 28 about flagrant “moral corruption” in Turkey — to which women’s public displays of joy evidently contribute.
“A woman should be chaste. She should know the difference between public and private. She should not laugh in public,” said Arinc. “Where are our girls, who slightly blush, lower their heads and turn their eyes away when we look at their face, becoming the symbol of chastity?” he asked, according to the Hurriyet Daily News.
Arinc’s comments were met with widespread ridicule, and Turkish women have taken to Twitter to share photos of themselves engaging in supposed “moral corruption.”
Anneanne anne torun üç kuşak örgüt kurarak şuursuzca #kahkaha atıyrlar @bulent_arinc @YrGngelopoulos @enveraysever2 pic.twitter.com/RYhOmSB041
— Duygu Halis (@DuyguDh) July 29, 2014
Opposition presidential candidate Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu summed it up perfectly when he tweeted: “If there’s one thing we need it’s the hearty laughter of women.”