Today we witness postcolonial Orientalism coming to grips with its obsession with the hijab. While the white French elite seem fixed on debating its symbols, the British media are asking why women choose to wear it. Once, the obsession was an obvious desire to unveil Muslim women (think postcards of semi-naked North African women during the colonial period of the turn of the 20th century). Such pictorial colonial fantasies are now a thing of the past. Now, French men have... Read more
Salam waleykum, readers. The sixth annual Brass Cresent blog awards are here! The last two years we’ve received honorable mentions for Best Group Blog and Best Female Blog–maybe this year we can get an actual award, enshallah. If you’d like to see us up there as much as we would, go here and nominate us! Read more
Women in Lebanon are campaigning to take domestic violence cases out of religious courts. Diana El-Jeiroudi discusses her film Dolls. In Bahrain, a nationwide campaign is being launched to secure seats for women in parliament and all five municipal councils in next year’s elections. Firedoglake covers Rana Hussein’s book Murder in the name of honor. Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen says women who will not remove their burqas in order to get work should not receive welfare. IslamOnline reports that female... Read more
This is my second post covering the Globe and Mail‘s series on women in Kandahar, Afghanistan. My first post examined the title and introductions to the project; this post will look at the online footage of the ten interviews that were conducted for the series. There is more to the project than what is covered in my two posts, so explore it yourselves, and let me know if you think I missed anything important. I totally missed the pun in... Read more
Women of Hezbollah is a 50-minute film directed by Maher Abi Samra. It takes place between 1996 and 2000. Ten years after the last Israeli aggression (and defeat) in south Lebanon, reviewing this documentary may sound anachronistic. But sometimes distance helps to get a more accurate insight about Hezbollah–a major political actor that is unjustly demonized most of the time. Getting a rational insight, not from experts but from real actors–women who are members of Hezbollah–offers revealing conclusions about the... Read more
This article was written by Jordan Robinson and originally appeared at AltMuslimah. It’s a hard lesson for many of us to learn: how to be confident, strong and bold while maintaining a healthy balance of humble demure with friends, family and elders. It’s usually a lesson that involves us trying to prove our maturity, leadership and independence, cheered on by a culture that glorifies youthful exuberance, and then getting cut down to size on life’s many chopping blocks. The new... Read more
Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a documentary about the women’s peace movement in Liberia, during the conflict between Charles Taylor’s government and the warlords of Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). It was directed by Gini Reticker, who has directed several other documentaries about women in Africa, including a film about the first female graduates from an imam academy in Morocco. Her experience shows as she manages to avoid all the usual pitfalls outsiders usually make when... Read more
Police have charged the British hoteliers who harassed a Muslim client. More here. Demand for hymen reconstruction surgery is rising in Turkey. Muslim and Dalit women India eradicate corruption in a local health centers. More on the mannequin situation in Iran. In the wake of Chesler vs. Wolf, a woman who actually wears an abaya speaks up. WLUML reports on the caning of Kartika. Hundreds of women demonstrated in Brussels, calling for the veil and all other religious clothes or... Read more
This post is the first of two that will analyze the recent Globe and Mail series on women in Kandahar, Afghanistan. While the series included segments in print and broadcast media, my focus here is on the multimedia online section, accessible through the Globe and Mail‘s website. Today’s post will be an overview of some of the introductory aspects of the series; next week, I will focus more on the content and the discussions with actual Afghan women. When I... Read more
Stories about polygamy tend to surge and ebb in the media, but they never fail to intrigue people. Recently in South Africa, a Zulu man married four women–all at once–making the most popular story on the BBC news website (you can watch the clip here). In the video, a male wedding guest gives a thumbs-up to the marriage(s), claiming that the “world” suffers from monogamous marriage breakdowns as a result of adultery. Later, the narrator serves up a classic: with... Read more
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