How “Do Muslim Women Need Saving?” Saved Me

March 4, 2014 By Leave a Comment

“This book is about what lies behind such deceptively simple responses to problems we think we already understand or believe that we should act on even before we understand.” – Lila Abu-Lughod

When Muslimah Media Watch started out in 2007, one of the goals was to be able to create a platform for self-identified Muslim women to be able to critique portrayals and stories about us and our communities in mainstream media. Comment and speaking for ourselves was a novel concept.  There continue to be countless Orientalist academic works, investigative reports and documentaries, heartwrenching movies, art  and books (whose jackets covered with pictures of women in niqab with desperate eyes heavily lined with Kohl) on the oppression of Muslim women and countless harrowing tales of our oppression. Let’s not forget the appropriation of our veils and their symbolism.

After reading and facing criticism for our work and writing from men and women of all faiths, I try to find mentors and women to whom to look for encouragement as we waged this form of jihad on stupidity and ignorance.

I blog often and try to smash assumptions, but am often tired by incessantly proving I do not need “saving” in any aspect of my life.

Within the online community, I have been blessed to find colleagues and friends – including MMW and countless others – who think, challenge stereotypes, and critique in intelligent and mannered ways. (Truth be told, there is always the acceptable rage and rant that we also allow ourselves. Obviously.)

Last year, when I saw a wonderful tweet (thanks @kawrage!) and some beautiful rumours about Professor Lila Abu-Lughod’s upcoming book Do Muslim Women Need Saving?, my heart started to beat faster. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Books/Magazines, Politics Tagged With: , , Leave a Comment

Mothering in an Age of Gendered Islamophobia

February 13, 2014 By

This post was originally published at wood turtle.

This is the second post in my series on the media stereotyping of Muslim women.

While some media argue that (identifiable) Muslim women are more likely to suffer Islamophobic attacks than men, I also recognize that Muslim men and non-Muslim men are also recipients of racial and anti-Muslim violence.

This post looks specifically at Gendered Islamophobia as targeted toward mothers and their families.

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Before she was even old enough to speak, I heard many well-intentioned but offensive comments from complete strangers, asking if I would ever force the hijab onto my daughters. As if it’s a given assumption that Muslim mothers and families routinely oppress their daughters into adopting a style of religious dress.

When it is not a piece of cloth that oppresses women, but discrimination, exploitation, inequality, domestic violence, and religiously justified misogyny.

Issues that many people face, not just Muslim women alone.

But when demonized images of Muslim women and mothers are conflated with negative media stereotypes and politicized symbols associated with the veil, it further encourages a climate of Gendered Islamophobia: Where because women in headscarves are immediately identifiable as representing Islam, they may experience deliberate gender-based violence, harassment or prejudice. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture/Society Tagged With: , , , ,

Veil Stereotypes: Constructing and Distorting Muslim Women

February 11, 2014 By

This post was first published at wood turtle.

Last summer I spoke at a conference about some of the media stereotyping of Muslim women and the consequences that negative images and Islamophobia have on Muslim women and their families.

Over a series of posts I’ll be sharing some of my research looking at the various ways Muslim women and mothers are presented by media, how this effects women’s relationships to their families, religion and Selves, and how women are in turn, responding to these stereotypes online. Using authentic voices to create spaces where their work and empowerment are celebrated — helping counter the overwhelming negative construction of “the Muslim woman.”

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A screen capture of a Google image search for “Muslim women.”

She’s wrapped in black from head to toe — and at this angle, it looks like she can barely see through the veil covering her face as she holds tightly to her child.

Media love the image of the anonymous Muslim woman.

Through stock photography that overwhelmingly includes images of women in black niqab, media often homogenizes Muslim women — othering, objectifying, sexualizing, and promoting the stereotype that they are victims in need of saving or aren’t “modern” enough to accept western values.

A quick Internet image search of the terms “Muslim women” will return hundreds of examples of women shrouded in black, covered by face veils. Which is extremely problematic given that not only is the hijab worn differently throughout the world — with myriad styles, designs and colours — but many Muslim women don’t wear the headscarf, and a minority wear the face veil.

Regardless of lived experience, the Muslim woman is framed as submitting to oppression — her own voice silenced, her actions and agency restrained by misogyny and a patriarchal religion. The camera focuses specifically on the veil — fixated by what she is wearing and not on the woman herself. In some images, she is literally trapped behind the bars of her niqab.

Over the last decade we’ve seen increasing amounts of media coverage on Muslims, partially in response to the war on terror and ongoing military actions in Muslim countries, France’s burqa ban, the Arab Spring, Canada’s citizenship oath niqab ban, anti-shari’ah law legislation, growing Islamophobia, and Quebec’s recent debate on overt religious symbols, and the Charter of Secularism

Often, these images are taken from countries where the headscarf and face veil are worn as a cultural norm — but are applied uniformly whenever Islam, Muslims, or topics vaguely relating to Muslims are mentioned. They usually include women who aren’t remotely connected to the news story, or are actors modelling religious dress — constructing an image of the “authentic” Muslim woman.

These images dehumanize Muslim women. As passive, lifeless objects, Muslim women become nothing more than props and their inclusion adds little value to the subject matter. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Comics/Cartoons, Culture/Society, News, Politics Tagged With: , , ,

Am I Dressed Appropriately? Or Why That’s None of Your Business

January 15, 2014 By

Last Wednesday, social media was abuzz with the published findings of a recent study conducted in the “Muslim world” (Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey).

The initial study was done by University of Michigan and looked at religious tolerance and secularism in Tunisia in comparison with six other nations.  Although the initial poll covered a multitude of questions regarding political and religious situations in the Middle East, the focus of the poll, as presented by Pew Research Center,was “How people in Muslim countries prefer women to dress in public.” This is one of THE MOST FAVOURITE questions of Muslimah Media Watch.

Sarcasm aside, the discussion around Muslim women’s dress is an ongoing global obsession. The discussions persist in the West about hijab as we write about them, write about them more, and then some more.In fact, I (and many more Muslim women around the globe) am so eager to receive results on studies dedicated to what respondents think of our (un)veiling and attire. Even more exciting was the deep analysis by Max Fischer of the Washington Post (and the go-to man of mapping and charts of Muslim countries’ opinions on “everything”), who brings forth such brilliant and novel theories as “Veiling can be controversial in the Middle East.”  White, non-Muslim men really have this all figured out. It’s mind-boggling that they even need to poll to inquire other men’s opinions in Muslim majority countries.

A few of the most pointed and obvious critiques of this study are as follows: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture/Society, News, Politics, Social Media Tagged With: , , ,

Uneasy Solidarity and the Hijab

December 31, 2013 By

As the debate on Quebec’s Charter of Secularism (formally the unaptly named Charter of Values) rages on, two Montreal professors wore the hijab to demonstrate their solidarity with Muslim women. In short, the Charter of Values in Quebec is a proposed law that bans the visibility of religious symbols – hijabs, kippa, crosses, turbans – in public spaces. Effectively, if the law passes, anyone employed by and paid through the public purse may be disallowed from wearing anything that could be construed as religious. (For a fuller discussion of the Charter and its implications, refer to Krista’s MMW post from September.)

Concordia University professor Nora Jaffary. [Source].

Nora Jaffary, a history professor at Concordia University, and Catherine Lu, a political science professor at McGill University, have worn the hijab to their classes in protest of the proposed charter. Jaffary, who as of November 25th was still wearing the hijab on campus grounds, points out that the vast majority of Muslim women have the autonomy to choose the hijab and that the charter instead singles out visible minorities. She goes onto say, “If many people are wearing religious signs, it’s impossible to tell who’s wearing them for what reason and so it sort of muddies the waters.”

Jaffary’s and Lu’s iintentions are incredible, especially in the context of a public debate that has been venomous and xenophobic. By being so public in their support for, in particular, the religious rights of Muslim women, Jaffary and Lu risk the ire of a Quebec populace among whom the Charter has substantial popularity. Yet, to be bluntly honest, this act of solidarity does not sit well with me. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture/Society, Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

Open Letter to Daphne Bramham on Women’s Soccer… and Burqas

November 28, 2013 By

I recently penned a letter to a Canadian journalist whose article was sent to me by a friend. For the most part, it was a  fantastic piece commenting on the funding inequalities of women in sports – particularly soccer. As a player, coach and supporter of women’s soccer. I was pleased to read it. Until the last paragraph of this intelligent, well researched articles plunged into a racist, Islamophobic, ridiculous abyss lined with veils. I responded on Twitter, addressing the author directly. Daphne Bramham did not respond.

So, I wrote Ms.Bramham and copied her editor, my editor, two female members from the Canadian Soccer Association and Moya Dodd, a member of FIFA’s Executive Committee.

Friday, November 22, 2013

To: Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun

cc: Editor, Vancouver Sun; Canadian Soccer Association; Editor, Muslimah Media Watch; Moya Dodd

RE: Let’s make equality a legacy of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup

Dear Ms. Bramham,

Your article published November 21 in the Vancouver Sun was brought to my attention.

Most of your piece very succinctly summarized the issues of funding inequalities in the Canadian and American Soccer Communities. Not only did it highlight some of the financial obstacles facing girl and women’s soccer, it also suggested how to move forward. Your statistics on the percentages of females coaches and administrators point to how women must be included in the upper echelons of Canadian Soccer.

I have been playing soccer for 30 years in Canada and found myself nodding in agreement all the way through your piece. That Canada is hosting the U20’s World Cup in 2014 and then the Women’s World Cup in 2015 can be a huge push for support and solidarity for women’s soccer from fellow Canadians.

As a player, a coach and the mother of a very motivated female player, I appreciate your attempt to draw attention to the cause of gender inequality in sport.

I say that I fully supported your piece up until the last sentence: “And, maybe, we might set an example for those parts of the world where girls can’t play and women are hobbled in burkas.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: News, Sports Tagged With: , , , , ,
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