Friday Links — September 17, 2010

Last updated on: September 17, 2010 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

Shariah-approved sex aids. ‘Nuff said. In the U.S., everyone’s in an uproar about Imam Rauf. Rafia Zakaria looks at his wife, Daisy, instead. The French Senate approved the burqa ban. Guernica looks at the intersection of women’s rights and Shariah law. The veil debate is dividing Bangladeshis. A 14-year-old girl committed suicide was murdered after being raped. May Allah give her peace and justice. Human rights lawyers are asking Kenyan men to be a stronger part of the fight against... Read more

Music to Our Ears: May Matar’s Metlak Mish Ayzin

Last updated on: September 16, 2010 at 12:00 am By yusra

Most Arab women I know have at one point or another cursed an Arab man and his stubborn adherence to male chauvinism, something that rears its ugly head in patriarchal societies around the globe. This topic usually boils down to this: a man has problem with independent woman. In a song titled “Metlak Mish 3ayzin” or “We’re not in need of people like you,” singer May Matar parodies popular misogynistic Arabic songs, such as “Jumhoriyet Albi” (or “The republic of... Read more

Revenge of the Battered Muslim Woman Stereotype

Last updated on: September 15, 2010 at 12:00 am By Azra

The back of her novel describes Taslima Nasrin’s Revenge: In contemporary Bangladesh, Jhumur marries for love and imagines life with her husband, Haroon, will continue much as it did when they were dating. But once she crosses the threshold of Haroon’s family home, Jhumur finds she is expected to be the traditional Muslim wife: head covered, eyes averted, and unable to leave the house without an escort. When she becomes pregnant, Jhumur is shocked to discover that Haroon doesn’t believe... Read more

Using Laila ElBaradei as a Clear Smear

Last updated on: September 14, 2010 at 12:00 am By diana

Egypt is gearing up for its presidential elections next year. As campaigns are off to a head start, so too is the mudslinging. The latest smear campaign is targeted at opposition leader and potential presidential candidate, Mohamed ElBaradei. However, instead of maligning ElBaradei himself, the smear campaign dishes out its unscrupulous attack on Laila ElBaradei, his daughter. The defamatory campaign, in which an anonymous Facebook page was created, featuring pictures of Laila wearing a swimsuit and attending a party where... Read more

Nominations for the 7th Annual Brass Crescents Open!

Last updated on: September 13, 2010 at 4:56 pm By fatemeh

Salam alaikum, readers! I hope your eid was wonderful. It’s that time of year again! The Seventh Annual Brass Crescent Award nominations are open! Last year, you voted us Best Women’s Blog (for which we felt really special). Feel like nominating us for Best Women’s Blog again? Or Best Group Blog? Head on over and log in your vote! Read more

Eid Mobarak!

Last updated on: September 10, 2010 at 12:20 am By fatemeh

Salam alaikum and eid mobarak, readers! Image by Khaloodies, via DeviantART. Read more

Friday Links — September 10, 2010

Last updated on: September 10, 2010 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

The New York Times profiles a Muslim woman whose husband died in the 9/11 attacks. Foreign Policy interviews Faezeh Hashemi Rafsanjani. Another casualty of the Iraq war: single Iraqi women. Sakineh Ashtiani will receive lashes because a newspaper published a picture of a woman mistaken for Ashtiani without her headscarf. Her son is still waiting for proof that her stoning sentence is suspended, and the Christian Science Monitor tries to get to the bottom of everything. To counter the “Burn... Read more

Not Such a Small World, After All: Disney’s Latest Discrimination

Last updated on: September 9, 2010 at 12:00 am By sarahaji

In the latest hijab shake-down, Imane Boudlal was taken off the schedule as a hostess at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel because she insisted upon her right to wear hijab to work. Boudlal, a Moroccan-born Muslim woman, already wore the hijab at home, but said that she learned of her Constitutional right to wear it to work while studying for her U.S. citizenship exam a few months ago. In accordance with Disney’s notoriously stringent employee agreement, Boudlal asked her manager in... Read more

Striking the Wrong Note: Melody TV’s Sexist Ads

Last updated on: September 8, 2010 at 12:00 am By diana

Egyptian satellite TV station Melody has struck the wrong chord with audiences. The station, based out of Cairo, is famous for its MTV-like youth appeal. The network of five channels (including an English-only channel) broadcasts a variety of pop culture, youth culture, and music videos. Their ongoing promotional campaigns, however successful, are leaving a bad taste in the mouth of some Egyptians, who find the commercials’ irreverent humor and sexual infatuation to be too risqué for the stations’ largely tween... Read more

Awesome New Website: Hijab and the City

Last updated on: September 7, 2010 at 12:00 am By nicole

Founded by two sisters in 2008, the French webzine Hijab and the City has a unique place in the French cultural landscape. In an interview given to the online news outlet Rue89, one of Hijab and the City’s stated goals was to “give a voice to those who are often talked about but never talked to.” As one blogger friend summed up succinctly, Hijab and the City is “a blog for girls who happen to be Muslim and not a... Read more