Wednesday, Apr 20, 2011    Text size: 

BERLIN — A Muslim model and actress has outraged her family and Muslim fans by posing nude in German Playboy magazine.

According to reports, Sila Sahin, a Turkish German living in Berlin, who has starred in German TV soap operas had been regarded as a model of the new Muslim girl until her nude layout and cover surfaced.

But Sahin said she deliberately posed in an effort to send a message of liberation and as a call to action for other Turkish girls who suffer the effects of strict backgrounds where women's choices are often limited, husbands are chosen for the girls and chastity closely controlled.

“I did it because I wanted to be free at last. These photographs are a liberation from the restrictions of my childhood. For too long I tried to do everything right. I want these photos to show young Turkish women it's okay for you to live however you choose,” Sahin said.

She added, ''Many of my countrymen think it's great that I can be so free. With the shoot I hoped to say to them that we do not necessarily have to live under these rules given to us.”

The 25-year-old beauty is the first Turkish woman to pose for German Playboy. In the magazine's 12-page spread Sahin said that she has always abided by what men say and as a result developed an extreme desire for freedom. She now feels ''like Che Guevara,'' and the layout was a bid to express her freedom.

''My upbringing was conservative. I was always told, you must not go out, you must not make yourself look so attractive, you mustn't have male friends,” she told Playboy.

Her family was shocked and reacted with horror to the news. “My mother is still angry. It will be even more difficult with my grandparents, my aunts and my uncles,” she said on the website devoted to her TV soap opera.

Sahin’s father expressed concern over the pressure she will inevitably face from the Muslim community.

But despite her bold move, Sahin does not want to be alienated by her family. "I hope you can forgive me. Please let me come home," she said in a TV interview.