MMW thanks Jehanzeb for the tip! Meet Deeyah, (real name Deepika) a Pakistani-Norwegian R&B/rock/pop diva who’s been on the music scene for a few years now. Trained in classical South Asian singing, known for her voice and her work to better the lives of women, her talent has been overshadowed by dark controversy along the way. A Pakistani by origin and born in Oslo, Norway, Deeyah began her singing career young. And now she’s making a mark in the music... Read more
This was written by Vanessa, and originally published at Feministing. When you thought Western culture couldn’t be more patronizing towards women from Muslim nations, their victimization and “powerlessness” might as well come with some infantalization to top it off: Saudi Arabian women have fewer rights than infants in the West, a report released today claims. The important thing about this condescension is that their lack of rights are compared to the West, specifically liberated Western babies. (Whatever that means.) The... Read more
We at Muslimah Media Watch seem to get asked a lot, “Well, what would make you happy?” Personally, being a young idealist, part-time cynic, and a lady who is just plain uppity, complaining is what really makes me happy. And when it comes to the portrayals of Muslim women in worldwide media, there is no shortage of happiness. But while a great side effect of our complaining would be change, change often comes slowly. Our main aim is to point... Read more
This was written by Maytha, originally published at KABOBfest. Why does every Western representation, photo-essay, primetime special feature on Muslims in America exclusively focus on the muhajabat when portraying the American Muslim woman experience? Time magazine’s online photo-essay “Muslim in America” features 16 pics of “ordinary” Muslim activity in New York. Ironically, I have a good amount of friends featured in this pictorial account of Muslim life in NYC. The only scene with a hijab-less Muslim woman is one in... Read more
Natalia Antonova for ArabComment explains why Sufiya Yousuf’s life decisions are none of our business. Women in Kyrgyzstan who have contracted HIV get little support. Newsweek looks at the lack of safety for women in Iraq. The Jamia Millia Islamia in India opens a senior secondary school exclusively for girls in order to promote education among Muslim women. This year’s theme for the Boston Muslim Film Festival is “Think-different Women” and they’ve got the films to back it up. The... Read more
Although still a male-dominated realm, women have been an important part of the hip hop world both as artists and consumers. Anaya McMurray, in her journal article* Hotep and Hip-Hop: Can Black Muslim Women Be Down with Hip-Hop? explores the relation of Black Muslim women to hip hop music and asks the question, “Can Black Muslim women be a part of hip hop and Islam?”** McCurray says that unique spaces in the discourses surrounding Islam are often ignored, consequently ignoring... Read more
There’s a trend in the Americas. Latina* women are getting tired of Catholicism. They’re sick of being called “mamacita” in the streets. They don’t want to deal anymore with the chauvinistic pigs otherwise known as Latino men. So they’re throwing away their tank tops and their statues of the Virgin Mary and pulling on the hijab and ‘abaya instead. Or so the media would have you believe. I’ve seen a stream of articles about Latina women converting to Islam, and... Read more
Written by Andrea Useem; this was originally published at Religion Writer. I’ve just finished watching FrontRunner, the new documentary from New View Films about Massouda Jalal, the only female candidate in Afghanistan’s 2004 elections. It’s hard, of course, to think about a woman running for president without immediately making comparisons to the current presidential race in the U.S. – it’s like a cartoon that needs a caption. But Jalal is no Hillary: She’s a political novice with no obvious constituent... Read more
Attention, Muslim fashion junkies in the Netherlands: you now have a magazine that caters to you! MSLM magazine is a project by the Media and Moving Art (MAMA) initiative. It aims to showcase the fashions of “A group of young fashion-minded women, mostly 2nd generation, Muslim, clearly stands out on the dutch society.” [sic] Not only is it a magazine, but it was also an art exhibition last year in the MAMA showroom (pictured here). The curator of the show... Read more
Zinaid Meeran interviews Rayda Jacobs, author and actress in Confessions of a Gambler. Concordia University holds a symposium on Muslim women and sports. Reem Rahman responds to Othman O’Malley’s article about hejab. Singapore bans A Jihad For Love at its film festival. Modi al-Zahrani wishes that women could work at lingerie shops in Saudi Arabia instead of men. It seems counterintuitive to me for a man to work at a lingerie shop in a conservative country. Women in Darfur are... Read more
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