Rima Fakih, an Arab Muslim immigrant, won the Miss USA Pageant Sunday night: She beat out four blondes and set off a whirlwind of media coverage stemming from her “stripper” past to her Shi’a background. On the positive side, one idealist commenter compared her to Barack Obama. Another went so far as to say her win shows the “real face of Arab Americans, not the stereotypes you hear about.” Ah, yes, not the burqa–the bikini! Trading one stereotype for another... Read more
Today is the Day of Action on Quebec’s Bill 94, which I wrote about last week. In honor of this, I wanted to share a video of a community dialogue on the bill, which took place in Toronto in early May. It was a really impressive event, with a very engaging panel and over 150 people in attendance. The video is pretty long, but well worth the watch for anyone interested in learning more about various personal, social, and legal perspectives... Read more
This story was written by M. Lynx Qualey and originally appeared at Arabic Literature (in English). Al Jazeera reports that the cultural pages of Gulf newspapers are brimming with talk about sex. Or, rather, they’re brimming with talk about talk about sex. This is because sex has been a growing phenomenon in Saudi literature. Earlier this year, noted Kuwaiti novelist Laila al-Othman decried the increase in sexual content in Saudi women’s lit. Al-Othman, whose Wasmiya Comes Out of the Sea... Read more
Joseph Mayton writes about how women in the Middle East are used as scapegoats. The American Academy of Pediatrics has rewritten their policy on female genital cutting to allow a “ritual nick.” Uh… Doctors defend their position here. About 40 women competed in a rare track meet in Hamas-ruled Gaza. In Saudi Arabia, the Ministry of Justice has established a new marriage rule that would require the age of the bride be recorded. So we know that she’s too young... Read more
The provincial legislature of Quebec, Canada, is currently considering a bill that would refuse key social services to anyone wearing a face covering if made into law. Political discussions around this bill have made it clear that the law specifically targets women who wear niqab, a face veil worn by some Muslim women. As Muslim women and feminists who come from a variety of countries, ethnic backgrounds, political views and religious understandings, we at Muslimah Media Watch are disturbed by... Read more
Al Jazeera recently aired a piece titled Lebanon’s Women Warriors, which features the testimonies and stories of eight women who fought against occupying forces from 1975-1990 in Lebanon. The film offers a unique perspective: it shows the role women played in the war, the unconventional weapons they used, and ways they fought. Perhaps the most striking thing about the piece is that it shows the relationship between women and violence in a way that is not typically expressed. This period... Read more
For those familiar with women’s “lifestyle” magazines, the call to be “sexy” in some way or another is not new. We women need to have “sexy” everything: attitude, legs, skin, armpits, you name it. So pervasive is this message that I’m surprised that no one has spontaneously combusted from sexual arousal at the sight of a women’s magazine devotee. And then we have the new Aquila magazine, whose key buzzwords are modesty and fabulousness. As the “world’s first English fashion... Read more
When Doha had to jump out of her cab three times after being assaulted by the drivers in broad daylight, she knew she had to do something about it. So she has joined a growing number of women in Lebanon who speak out against sexual harassment. A local non-government organization, IndyACT, supported a national campaign against sexual harassment called, “The adventures of Salwa.” Salwa is a fictional character in a series of television ads aimed at fighting sexual harassment: A... Read more
The International Muslim Organization for Women and Family in Jeddah says the organization is receiving a growing number of runaway girls and young women. The Nation asks who murdered Benazir Bhutto. The Associated Press reports on polygyny in France. Hissa Hilal publishes a book on women’s Bedouin poetry about divorce. Uzbek-British Hammasa Kohistani is the U.K.’s first Muslim Miss England. FIFA has amended its earlier ban on headscarves–sort of. The Iranian women’s team can play with caps that cover their... Read more
In March, MMW ran a guest post by Özlem Sensoy and Elizabeth Marshall about representations of Muslim women and girls in young adult literature (part one, part two, and part three.) The article focuses on stories, written by non-Muslim Western authors, of Muslim girls living in places like Afghanistan, and the kinds of images that are created through these novels. In their introduction, they ask: “Does popular young adult fiction about Muslim girls build understanding or reinforce stereotypes?” It just so happens that this question formed... Read more
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