The Middle East is hotter than normal

The normally conservative Middle Eastern country Lebanon makes headlines this week in light of the Sochi Olympics when topless photos of one the skiers, Jackie Chamoun surfaced.  While the skier did willing take this picture for a calendar, some behind the scenes video surfaced that seemed to be a bit more X-rated.http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/02/topless-images-of-olympic-skier-a-scandal-in-lebanon/

While this kind of "problem" may be well known and even embraced in the United States as seen in popular stars such as Miley Cyrus' newest photo shoot, it is very new and struck major cultural cords in the Middle East.


Charmoun of course took immediate action to issue a public apology for what had happened stating
 "Anyways, I want to apologize to all of you, I know that Lebanon is a conservative country and this is not the image that reflects our culture." 
Despite all the negative this particular incident has sparked great outcry and support from Middle Eastern women starting the trend #stripforjackie as highlighted by sky news http://news.sky.com/story/1210599/topless-images-of-lebanese-skier-spark-row
This story Highlights massive cultural variations across the world that the most Americans choose to ignore as I am sure no one is holding their breath for Miley Cyrus to issue anything close to an apology for the same actions made as the skier, even if hers may have been a bit more deliberate.  This conflict shows that standards for things such as beauty are changing everlastingly and tie directly into media as Miley Cyrus' actions are deemed to be "Artsy" and the skier is made to look like the fool.