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Nihal: Living a western lifestyle

13/12/2012

Living a western lifestyle

BBC Asian Network - Nihal, Living a western lifestyle

Can you be completely honest with your parents if you live a westernised lifestyle?

Nihal asks whether you can be completely honest with your parents if you live a westernised lifestyle. Plus burn victim Labonya Siddiqui talks to Nihal about becoming a model.

Can you be completely honest with your parents if you live a westernised life style?

We're asking this question because of the tragic story surrounding a woman from east London called Rema Begum. A coroners courts heard how she jumped to her death earlier this year after a hate campaign directed at her supposed "western" lifestyle. Newspaper reports say that after telling friends that she was on the receiving end of attacks via social media and poison pen letters to her family, she committed suicide by throwing her self off a famous rooftop restaurant in the City of London. 

The court heard that she had told friends and a psychologist that her western lifestyle and her religious beliefs were in conflict with her family's beliefs. She reportedly also told friends of her concerns of what her family would think because she was dating a man outside of her faith. 

What do you think about this? If your life is in conflict with your families expectations is it better to be honest or do you believe leading a double life is the only option. Are we still in a situation where young women from traditional backgrounds of all faiths lie about their boyfriends? hide how they dress? say they are going to gym when they are going from drinks with friends? have two mobiles phones? 

Is dishonesty the best policy?

Later in the show - Labonya Siddiqui has been chosen to model for Next. What makes her different from the rest of models is that she was a burns victim, and a far cry from the photo shopped image that you see in the magazines today.

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