An Arab woman bodybuilder?
Her highly muscled body is smothered in tattoos and she is constantly criticised by her fellow Jordanians but 26-year-old Farah Malhass is determined to become the first Arab woman to enter an international body-building competition.
Malhass is set on winning notoriety as a body-builder, but she faces more than physical challenges in her native Jordan, where social prejudice sits uneasily with this strange brand of feminism. The 26-year-old brunette is completely commited to her physical training.PATRICK BAZ/AFP/Getty Images
Jordanian body-builder Farah Malhass, 26, embraces her Siamese cat named Sara in her home in Amman May 6, 2010. Malhass says she aspires to become the first Arab woman to enter an international body-building competition.REUTERS/Ali Jarekji
In her twenties Malhass enrolled at Saint Martins College in London to study fine art, but soon dropped out. Back in Jordan, she joined the International Organisation for Migration in 2007 and worked with Iraqi immigrants, "an experience that scarred me with their stories of torture and abuse." Malhass left the IOM last year and is now totally committed to her ambition of taking part in international body-building competitions.REUTERS/Ali Jarekji
"The tattoo is vital for me. It reveals my identity and the path I want to follow," says Malhass, who travels regularly to Beirut to get her tattoos after receiving her first one at the age of 17.REUTERS/Ali Jarekji
Malhass is a sitting target for Jordan's hardliners, not least of all because her body is covered in tattoos: a bare-breasted angel is depicted on her upper thighs, angel wings cover her back, and edgy statements are branded across her arms.REUTERS/Ali Jarekji
Jordanian body-builder Farah Malhass (R), 26, and her coach Eddi pose during training at a gym in Amman May 5, 2010. Malhass says she aspires to become the first Arab woman to enter an international body-building competition.REUTERS/Ali Jarekji