The release of Time Magazine’s new cover has left an unsettling feeling in just about everyone. After getting just one glimpse of it, I couldn’t get away. It was discussed on every news blog and website. It is an image that is kept in the back of your head. Many have shared their opinions about the cover claiming that it is inappropriate. Some say it is beautiful. It is an accurate representation of 18-year old Aisha’s traumatizing ordeal.
I believe that the cover of this issue is honest. There’s no photo shop involved or airbrushing. It is visual proof and when something is as true as this, how can you deny it?
Time is typically not known for controversial articles ever, but they certainly made a statement with this one.
[an excerpt from the article]
The Taliban pounded on the door just before midnight, demanding that Aisha, 18, be punished for running away from her husband’s house. Her in-laws treated her like a slave, Aisha pleaded. They beat her. If she hadn’t run away, she would have died. Her judge, a local Taliban commander, was unmoved. Aisha’s brother-in-law held her down while her husband pulled out a knife. First he sliced off her ears. Then he started on her nose.
This didn’t happen 10 years ago, when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan. It happened last year. Now hidden in a secret women’s shelter in Kabul, Aisha listens obsessively to the news. Talk that the Afghan government is considering some kind of political accommodation with the Taliban frightens her. “They are the people that did this to me,” she says, touching her damaged face…
And in case anyone had any questions about why Time’s managing editor decided to run this cover – read his explanation here.
*Most articles right now are addressing the headline, but my main focus is the image of the cover.
Wow. I had heard about this cover but had not seen it. Yesterday, coincidentally I listened to Isabelle Allende’s Ted talk. She talked about how fortunate western women think that feminism is old fashioned and her point, “think again”. This photo really brings that home.
Such a horrible story, but these things do need to be made public. I can’t comprehend how there can such evil in the world. People in the West get worked up about such trivial things in comparison. Most of us would do something to stop this if we could, but what can you do when such evil is going on thousands of miles away?
It is easy for us here in the United States to forget how heinous the Taliban actually are. We need to be knocked out of our complacency and remember what our sons and daughters are fighting for. Being born a woman should not be a life sentence of oppression, abuse, and torture. We wouldn’t stand for it here, and we shouldn’t be okay with it in Afghanistan, either.