Iraqi TV actor Enas Taleb to sue over Economist’s ‘fat shaming’

Enas Taleb was described as ‘Rubenesque’ and the article said Arab men’s preference for her shape may have contributed to the Middle East’s obesity problem.

Enas Taleb is considering legal action over an article and its headline in The Economist she says is ‘a great insult’. Picture: Getty Images

To editors at The Economist, the article was a worthy study of the links between sexism and obesity. But to readers in the Middle East the headline “Why women are fatter than men in the Arab world” was an outrageous provocation.

Now Enas Taleb, the Iraqi TV actor used to illustrate the story, has said she intends to sue the magazine for the distress it has caused her.

The Economist described Taleb as “Rubenesque” and said that Arab men’s preference for women of her shape may have contributed to the Middle East’s well-recognised obesity problem. “Iraqis often cite Enas Taleb, an actor with ample curves, as the ideal of beauty,” it said.

Taleb, 42, said the article was “a great insult to the Arab woman in general and the Iraqi woman in particular”. She added: “I have faced bullying and offensive comments.”

It is unclear whether the description of a woman’s “ample curves” can be classified as libellous under British law, but Taleb said she is “demanding compensation for the emotional, mental and social damage” caused.

She also claimed that the picture used was photoshopped.

However, local media commentators discussing the case this week did mostly concede that obesity was an issue in the Middle East. Reasons in general range from the crowded cities with the lack of opportunities for exercise to the reliance of a largely poor population on bread as its staple food.

The article is not alone in pointing out that women suffer more than men, in part because of social conservatism encouraging them to remain in the home.

The Economist said gyms were often unwelcoming to them. However, the tone of the headline prompted many Arab women to accuse it of “fat-shaming”.

Several said that when it came to western women the media now promoted “plus-size” as “body positive”.

The Economist has not commented on the complaints.

The Times