Shame

Sex, honour, shame and blackmail in an online world

Daniel Silas Adamson looks at how smartphones and social media are colliding head-on with traditional notions of honour and shame.

In 2009 an 18-year-old Egyptian girl, Ghadeer Ahmed, sent a video clip to her boyfriend's phone. The clip showed Ghadeer dancing at the house of a female friend. There was nothing pornographic about it, but she was wearing a revealing dress and dancing without any inhibition.