In June 2002, hundreds of Nigerian women, mothers and grandmothers ages 20 to 90 took a stand to protest the oil companies that have taken control of their communities. They overran the largest oil producing facility in Nigeria's south-western Niger Delta.

Unarmed, they held 700 workers hostage for more than a week and blocked production of half a million barrels of oil a day. Their most effective weapon: a deeply rooted cultural threat known as the "Curse of Nakedness."

"The stripping off of clothes particularly by married and elderly women is a way of shaming men -- some of whom believe that if they see the naked bodies they will go mad or suffer some great harm. The curse extends not just to local men but also to any foreigner who it is believed would become impotent at the sight of "the naked mother," says Sokari Ekine, the International Coordinator of the Niger Delta Women.

The Curse of Nakedness