Hadia Tajik strikes back at sexy criticism – VG

“What is it about a woman’s body with clothes on from head to toe that makes it so sexual for some?” Hadia Tajik (37) asks in response to the weekend’s juicy critique.

On Saturday, politician Hadia Tajik (Labor Party) was criticized by faculty director Karoline Holmboe Høibo (43) at the University of Stavanger in a column in Stavanger Aftenblad.

She believed the cover of Tajik’s new book, “Freedom”, gave the impression that women must be sexualized in order to succeed in politics. The debate has since ravaged social media.

In a reader post in Stavanger Aftenblad on Monday afternoon, Tajik responds to the criticism from the faculty director. The deputy leader of the Labor Party writes that the article cannot be read in any other way than that it is claimed that she offers her body – even though she is dressed.

«I had figured out if the accusation came from a slightly conservative Pakistani man. The hair hangs free and the neck is open. But it comes from a female Norwegian academic. She thinks I should have been more compliant», She writes.

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“Is the color choice and the pose meant to bring thoughts to 50 Shades of Gray?”, Høibo asked in his column, referring to the “housewife porn” books and films of the same name.

Tajik writes about the claim that her cover image makes it more difficult for other young women to engage in politics.

«Rubbish from end to end».

Tajik thinks it borders on being rude when Høibo claims that the recent years’ mentions of metoo in the Labor Party mean that she should dress differently.

«Honestly. At the heart of the problem of sexual harassment is men abusing power, not how women dress», She strikes back.

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The Labor veteran also writes:

«She thinks I should dress more like Jonas Gahr Støre. An excellent man and party leader, of course, but also a man who is 20 years older than me».

VG has not succeeded in getting in touch with either Tajik or Høibo after Tajik posted his post.

One of those who shared Høibo’s article was former Klassekampen editor Bjørgulv Braanen (63). He is also mentioned in Tajik’s post:

«According to him, the picture of me is similar to French Boudoir photographs», She writes and states that she herself had to google the word boudoir.

She then found out that there are pictures from French women’s changing rooms, where the ladies are usually half-undressed. Tajik describes it as “a bit fascinating that Braanen is good at French, slightly erotic images”, and that he holds her responsible for his associations.

– A little lace

Tajik herself points out that she is fully clothed in the photograph, and that the surroundings are not particularly erotic.

«A little lace is obviously all that is needed», She writes.

About rules of the game

Tajik also writes that she knows she would have avoided this storm if she had chosen a more typical politician portrait, a more close-up with her arms crossed and a smile on her face.

Tajik emphasizes, however, that she has never complied with what she believes has been expected of her in working life, neither in terms of background, religion or position.

«So why should the cover image follow the rules of the game, when nothing else in the book does? » she asks.

– Double standards

Tajik writes in the post that she believes younger women can learn from the debate around the book cover – about what she describes as double standards and the intersecting expectations women today encounter.

She herself points out that during the last few days’ discussions on social media she has both been told that the picture is so nice that it would have fit better on the front page of Vogue, and that others think it is so ugly that the fashion magazine would never put it on Press.

«My gaze is too fixed and too uncertain, my pregnant belly too visible and too invisible, my posture too much tough and too little tough», Writes Tajik, who is expecting a child with cohabitant Kristian Skard (48).

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