Proving that laughter is infectious – and the best antidote – British actor Emma Watson showed Twitter solidarity with thousands of women who have posted mirthful pictures of themselves in defiance of a call by a Turkish politician for women to stop laughing in public.
Watson, of Harry Potter fame, tweeted a photograph of herself doubled up in stitches and linking to the Guardian report of the Twitter backlash against Turkish deputy prime minister Bülent Arinç, who said in a speech to mark Eid al-Fitr on Monday that women should be "chaste", know the difference between public and private, and "she should not laugh in public".
Thousands of women have since posted pictures of themselves laughing out loud with the hashtags #direnkahkaha in protest and to highlight women's rights in Turkey.
Watson, a goodwill ambassador for UN women, has 13.8m Twitter followers. Within 30 minutes, the picture of her laughing outside a pavement restaurant had been retweeted 2,400 times and favourited 4,500 times.
