As a fairly open-minded Asian girl (at least I’d like to think so), I have friends across the entire spectrum of the whole clothes debacle, from those who wear full burka, to others who are self-confessed party dress/kitten heel/boob tube kinda girls (love them all, though I do). I fall somewhere in the middle. With a similar weighing of cultures to that expressed by Kia Abdullah in her article Flesh Wounds - I don’t wear a hijab, but I do dress fairly demurely, with kneecaps that rarely see the light of day.

But yet again, the flesh issue is thrown up, and yet again, the controversy baiting Big Brother is at the helm. When stunner Maysoon’s audition tape blasted onto the programme, I swear I heard the distant screams of ‘Slut! Shame on her!’ And I have to admit, my sensibilities were also slightly ruffled with her incessant boasting about how she’s a model, and the various booty-shaking videos she’s appeared in. But then I thought to myself, why am I so shocked?

It’s funny that while Muslim actresses in Bollywood have been scantily clad on celluloid for aeons (take 80’s sex siren Zeenat Aman for example), it still comes as a surprise when a UK bred Muslim woman does the same, despite the fact that we live in a secular, multicultural society, and therefore should in theory be more liberalised. When Kareena Kapoor flaunts her new figure in an itsy-bitsy bikini, or Katrina Kaif thrusts her pelvis at Saif Ali Khan while urging him to Zara Zara Touch Me Touch Me (subtlety is often lost in Bollywood), nobody really bats an eyelid as it is accepted as part of their job. Yet when British-Syrian Maysoon saunters into the house, there’s a silent condemnation.

My only theory on this mindset is that we see Bollywood heroines, whether Muslim, Hindu, or Mallika Sherawat, in a different, unassailable league, where their world is all about glamour. Nowadays, many middle-class girls in India are encouraged to be beauty queens rather than doctors. The film industry there commands so much respect; stars are treated like royalty, so the issue of marketing your body is a small price to pay for the acclaim that comes with it. Whereas we see more in common with a girl like Maysoon, who isn’t from a different society, but is a British Muslim girl who happens to be incredibly beautiful. You compare her to yourself and your friends, and wonder how your parents would react if you used your body as your currency and entered a house of deprived young men, none of whom are marriage material (sorry Stu, Dale, Rex…). Most of my friends’ parents would disown them for entering the Big Brother House, let alone posing in a Midriff exposing top or appearing in the tabloids in a bikini.

Yet, the more I watch Big Brother, the more I grow to like Maysoon, and realise that beneath the glamour, she’s actually a really nice girl (unlike Sara, who’s throwing herself at anyone and everyone). My liking of Maysoon is coupled with a niggling sense of guilt for making harsh judgements of her on first appearances.

I guess in conclusion, the great skin debate is more than skin deep.

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