'Arabs definitely have the best eyebrows': Women celebrate Middle Eastern beauty with glamorous selfies as #TheHabibatiTag hashtag sweeps Twitter

  • Taken from 'habibti', an Arabic term of endearment similar to 'my love'
  • Hashtag launched by Palestinian American Sarad Mahmoud and friends
  • Aims to promote 'pride and positivity' around the world  

By Annabel Fenwick Elliott for MailOnline

Published: 05:43 EST, 13 September 2015 | Updated: 10:18 EST, 14 September 2015

A new Twitter hashtag which celebrates Middle Eastern beauty is sweeping social media.

Launched by Palestinian students Sarad Mahmoud, who is based in Florida, and Yara Assadi, based in New Jersey, the #TheHabibatiTag movement hopes to promote the diversity of non-western women, and men, and has so far been used more than 20,000 times.

The tag has been trending across the US, UK, Saudi Arabia and Kenya - taken from 'habibti', a term of endearment in Arabic loosely translated as 'my love' or 'my darling'.

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Many Middle Eastern Twitter users outlined their mixed heritage, with one Michigan-based woman, Jenna (pictured), stating, '1/2 Lebanese 1/2 Palestinian full cute'

Many Middle Eastern Twitter users outlined their mixed heritage, with one Michigan-based woman, Jenna (pictured), stating, '1/2 Lebanese 1/2 Palestinian full cute'

Speaking to BBC News, Sarad said: 'The only representation we get as Middle Easterners and North Africans in the media is when an act of hate or terror occurs.' 

'Growing up I never saw a woman who looked like me on TV. And because of that, I felt like I wasn’t beautiful.'

Sarad, who describes herself as a feminist, wrote an explanation of the movement which she posted on Twitter.  

'#TheHabibatiTag is a tag started by myself and three other gorgeous women who are Middle Eastern,' she stated.

A Canadian woman with the handle 'gooeygay' wrote 'Queer and Proud' along with her self portrait

A Canadian woman with the handle 'gooeygay' wrote 'Queer and Proud' along with her self portrait

Yara Assadi, a co-creater of the hashtag, wrote with this snap, 'viva viva palestina'

Yara Assadi, a co-creater of the hashtag, wrote with this snap, 'viva viva palestina'

Yara, another of the movement's co-founder, tells FEMAIL: 'I am Muslim and I grew up not wearing the hijab.

'My mother is religious but does not wear the hijab because her mother let her choose whether or not to wear it. She did the same with me.

'But whether or not I wore the hijab, I still got racist remarks from my peers, comments like: "She's Taliban", "She's an America-hater" and questions like: "Do you get to choose who you marry, or do you like have to marry a Muslim guy?"'

This hashtag is for women who struggle to feel beautiful in a world where we are told that we are nothing but terrorists 

Speaking about her hometown in New Jersey, she says: 'Westfield is a predominantly white community which runs low on diversity. The result of this is some people don't know how to act around people of color.

'Of course this doesn't apply to all of them, there are a lot of very sweet and educated people who live here. But, you still get those ignorant and uncultured kids who don't know what else to do with their time other than make fun of people who aren't exactly like them.'

Yara, who is only 15, added: 'I've grown up thinking that my hair and skin and my nose and my eyes and my body were less beautiful just because I didn't fit into America's idea of beauty. 

Plus, I had no American Arab women in the media to look up to. I had grown to wanting naturally straight hair and blue eyes instead of embracing my curls and deep brown eyes. 

'This hashtag had created a mini community for girls like me to embrace our beauty and feel like we aren't alone in the struggle to feel beautiful in a world where we are told that we are nothing but terrorists.' 

This woman, Medina, captioned this image, 'im not 100% arab so i feel like im ruining this tag, buuut this is me & im albanian turkish & saudi??'

This woman, Medina, captioned this image, 'im not 100% arab so i feel like im ruining this tag, buuut this is me & im albanian turkish & saudi??'

Sarad states: 'This tag is meant to be gender neutral, and it's meant to promote pride, positivity, love and respect inside of the Arab community as well as outside.

'So feel free to post under it and show how prideful we are to be Middle Eastern.' 

Hoards of women from countries including Iraq, Morocco and Afghanistan have uploaded their glamorous selfies, some with and some without head scarfs. 

'I never post selfies on twitter but this tag is da bomb Moroccan,' wrote one Amsterdam-based woman along with a snap of herself posing in a skin-tight red skirt and crop top.

The same woman shared another close-up of her face, with the caption: 'Arabs have definitely the best eyebrows, you can say anything you want but its [sic] true.' 

Yara Assadi, a co-creater of the hashtag, posted a sultry selfie along with the caption: 'Viva viva palestina.'

Medina shared another glamorous selfie in honour of the cause 

Medina shared another glamorous selfie in honour of the cause 

'I never post selfies on twitter but this tag is da bomb Moroccan,' wrote one Amsterdam-based submitter along with a snap of herself posing in a skin-tight red skirt and crop top 

'I never post selfies on twitter but this tag is da bomb Moroccan,' wrote one Amsterdam-based submitter along with a snap of herself posing in a skin-tight red skirt and crop top 

The same woman shared another close-up of her face, with the caption: 'Arabs have definitely the best eyebrows, you can say anything you want but its [sic] true' 

The same woman shared another close-up of her face, with the caption: 'Arabs have definitely the best eyebrows, you can say anything you want but its [sic] true' 

Several gay men and women joined the movement and shared their selfies.

One Arizona native, who goes by the handle MisterNorthWest, captioned his image: 'everyone's fav gay muslim coming at ya live [sic].'

And a Canadian woman with the handle 'gooeygay' wrote 'Queer and Proud' along with her self portrait. 

Many outlined their mixed heritage, with one Michigan-based woman, Jenna, stating: '1/2 Lebanese 1/2 Palestinian full cute.'

Another called Medina wrote: - 'im not 100% arab so i feel like im ruining this tag, buuut this is me & im albanian turkish & saudi?? [sic]' 

One Texas-based woman, who describes herself as 'Your favorite infidel', stated that she was 'Proud Iraqi/Irani' and shared a selection of photos of her weight loss.

One Arizona native, who goes by the handle MisterNorthWest, captioned his image, 'everyone's fav gay muslim coming at ya live [sic]' 

One Arizona native, who goes by the handle MisterNorthWest, captioned his image, 'everyone's fav gay muslim coming at ya live [sic]' 

This Houston, Texas-based woman, pictured, who describes herself as 'Your favorite infidel', stated that she was 'Proud Iraqi/Irani'

This Houston, Texas-based woman, pictured (left) and (right) who describes herself as 'Your favorite infidel', stated that she was 'Proud Iraqi/Irani'

This woman, who goes by the handle 'liyaxilla' shared a selection of photos of her weight loss
This woman, who goes by the handle 'liyaxilla' shared a selection of photos of her weight loss
This woman, who goes by the handle 'liyaxilla' shared a selection of photos of her weight loss

The same woman, who goes by the handle 'liyaxilla',  shared a selection of photos of her weight loss

 

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