Of course raping or abusing domestic workers is unIslamic. Who says that the men in the Gulf who do this are practicing true Islam? Non-arab workers are not even allowed into shopping malls. How ‘Islamic’ is that?

So as you rightly point out, one question is whether the series is rubbish in its content. There you’ll have a major question on gender politics of mass entertainment productions, and the agenda behind those productions. If it is not bogus, but fairly accurate, historically, then I think your second suggestion to present women more as agents of their destiny is very ambiguous. So one should alter historical fact in a seemingly historical tv series? That would be mis-education and delusion. I do not think that would be appropriate even for sound intentions. Essentially, we can always learn from the past. It would be ideal if responsible mass media were to stage historian and politician/activist discussions after the show. (I am aware this is not likely to happen any time soon.) Still, I would be against such historical falsification. I feel ambiguous about the glamorization of the “woman is powerful in her own way – read: through her charms – in the background of power”-play. I just think if this is what the past is like almost all around the world, and what the reality of the world still is with few rays of light today, we should not mislead people into thinking it was different. There were, however, women who mastered their destiny better than you’d think they could based on the surroundings (they often depended on men providing support for their mastering their destiny, to remain honest). There is a novel biography for Lady Florence Baker, which I find fascinating from a very late Ottoman/colonial perspective (late 19th century – she was a slave girl in an Ottoman harem and sold as an adolescent to break free with her future husband, as her name tells an English noble). I am sure there are earlier fascinating biographies of women in harems or European courts, for that matter, who succeeded in securing themselves *some* freedom and agency.

To Christians, how would you feel, if the men were replaced by priests and the women with nuns, that is the same situation i am in at the moment.

I loved the video for its style, its art direction etc. I take NO offense at their representation. Girls are not ‘all up’ on the men. they are covered in a way signals not only the ‘niqab’ but a broader symbol of anonymity – which in my opinion – is one of the more radical political claims that can be taken these days (eg anonymous). the ultimate bad girls.

I didn’t not hear of sophia al maria until I saw this video. Her video, the road, is an antidote to the bad girls video. I hope she get’s more exposure because of this. Of course, while there are stylistic ‘lifts’ i’m not mad at the director because that’s the nature of art and cinema. It’s not an academic paper where all ideas and forms must be cited.

Lastly, there’s another narrative that is hidden. Let’s not forget the abuse that domestic workers from india, sri lanka, and the philippines face on a daily basis the gulf – from men and women! she turns that narrative onto its head – and creates the impossible scenario of a tamil woman leading the pack.