The conservative Egyptian society has been given a rude shock by a woman blogger, who posted nude pictures of herself on her blog to protest limits on free expression. Whether to be considered as an act of foolishness or as an act of bravery is yet to be assessed. But on the whole the 20-year-old university student blogger, Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, has risked her life by defying the conservationists.

Nudity is strongly frowned upon in Egyptian society, even as an art form. Elmahdy's posting is almost unheard of in a country where most women in the Muslim majority wear the headscarf and even those who do not wear, never ever wear, even clothes that show slightest exposure of the hands or the legs.

Elmahdy wrote on her blog that the photographs – which show her standing wearing only stockings – are "screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy." The blog has received 1.5 million hits since she posted the photos earlier this week.

On her Arabic blog, Aliaa defends her actions, writing: 'Hide all art books and smash naked archaeological statues. 'Then take off your clothes and look at yourselves in the mirror, then burn your body that you so despise to get rid of your sexual complexes forever, before subjecting me to your bigoted insults or denying my freedom of expression.'

An unlikely group of 40 Israeli women have shown solidarity and support for Aliaa Elmahdy by stripping off for a photo of their own. They didn’t go quite as far as Aliaa. They were photographed behind a sign that read ‘Love without Limits’ and ‘Homage to Aliaa Elmahdi. Sisters in Israel’.