She isn’t the cat you want in a corner exactly, but is the kitten to place on your lap at love hour. It’s hard to capture her the way you want, it’s not easy to paint her image, but her confidence sets it all! “Do you know how Gia is in the movie? When she goes ‘oh screw it, I’m quitting this gig, I’m buying a Porsche, go get my girlfriend and get married… screw it’ like that? I’m more like that, screw it.” She remarked. Talking for hours with a woman who owns masculinity and channels it through femininity, I couldn’t help but to ask myself, could Farah be the next gay icon? Is she queerly loved? Well, she’s not up to be labeled, nor labeling others, that’s for sure, but I guess a woman who would cancel a whole shoot when false-lashes aren’t available (which almost happened to us) knows a thing or two about drama. “I don’t like to label people, but a lot of gay people get a lot of crap from people here, and they constantly after the case, I don’t think that’s fair,” She says, “I think everyone has the right to live and be with whoever they want to live and be with, as long as they’re not hurting anyone else. I mean you go wherever you want to go, you have whatever type of relationship you want, gay straight, bisexual, lesbian, as long as you’re not hurting anyone. In other Arab countries, it differs, the tolerance varies!”
She knows what it feels like to be undertaken, she knows what it feels to be labeled, and she knows how others make it obvious to doubt your sexuality, but when people called her names and went after her appeal, Farah couldn’t care less; in fact, she’s the person to giggle at Youtube uploaded vids of her that seems to cause a stir! “I mean, we’re what, in 2011 and a woman can’t do what she wants to do?!” she contended, “I do not like this attachment, it’s labeled wrongly. What gives you the right to judge?”, “I mean, I’m not going to change me and my true colors just to be accepted by a society that can’t accept itself”.
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The photographer’s word:
“‘The only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction.’ Christopher Hitchens. I truly admire Farah Malhas as another idol in the Middle East, defying all the prevailing ideas about women in this society. I am much honored to take a small part in that, doing what I do best. This photo shoot does not show the conventional woman on the front cover page of the magazine; however it shows the beauty, power, sensitivity, strength and delicacy of women. To sum it all up it was a great and a lovely experience working with Kali and Farah.” – Farah Tealakh