Tima Shomali's Netflix series about the lives of high school girls in Jordan caused members of parliament to protest its existence. The reactions from women across the Middle East have shown her just how necessary her show is.
Shomali has had a long relationship with Netflix, ever since they launched in the Middle East, and had continuously pitched different ideas over the years but nothing ever quite took off.
“And we had two pages, literally two pages,” Shomali says. “But the story was strong and I felt that she connected with this story as well.” As for the parliament member, their pushback turned into a rallying cry for women to speak out and share stories of experiences they’d had that are akin to ones in the show, of sexual harassment, bullying etc.