Getting her tongue pierced was “exciting and scary” says a teen who succumbed to pressure from her best friend in Austin, Texas, February 22, 2008. This image is featured in National Geographic's exhibition “Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment”, on view at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre, Jan. 22 - Mar. 22, 2015. (Photo by Kitra Cahana/National Geographic)

“Maria Rosaria (Mara) Carfagna (born December 18, 1975 in Salerno) is an Italian politician and former showgirl and topless model. After obtaining a degree in law, Carfagna worked for several years on Italian television shows and as a model. She later entered politics and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for Forza Italia party in 2006. On May 8, 2008, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi appointed her Minister for Equal Opportunity, a move that received international attention due to her background and her appearance. Carfagna has been called «The most beautiful minister in the world», and was ranked number one on Maxim's «World´s Hottest Politicians»”.

Photo: Minister Mara Carfagna attends a press conference for the Pink Box Project held at Palazzo Marino on November 24, 2008 in Milan, Italy. The Pink Box is a tracking device, designed to help women drivers in danger. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images). MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 24 2008

Tourists visit the water forest by boat at a wetland park in Yangzhou City, east China's Jiangsu Province, 30 July, 2023. (Photo by Meng Delong/ImagineChina/Imaginechina via AFP Photo)

Some of the most powerful narratives of the past decade have been produced by a forward-thinking generation of women photojournalists as different as the places and the subjects they have covered. National Geographic's “Women of Vision” exhibit features the work of 11 photographers and is on display at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta until January 3, 2016. Here: Nujood Ali stunned the world in 2008 by obtaining a divorce at age 10 in Yemen, striking a blow against forced marriage. (Photo by Stephanie Sinclair/National Geographic)

A woman scales fish by the side of a lake as she prepares for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year in Suqian, Jiangsu province, China, January 27, 2016. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

A model poses for a portrait backstage during Dakar Fashion Week July 10, 2011. (Photo by Finbarr O'Reilly/Reuters)

A tree covered with hoarfrost casts a shadow on a snowy field, shot with a drone in Sieversdorf-Hohenofen, Germany on January 31, 2021. (Photo by Patrick Pleul/dpa)

The moon shines through trees at a United Nations displacement camp at dusk on March 14, 2011 in Ras Jdir, Tunisia. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)