I attended the Vagina Monologues last week. This is the fourth year in a row that I’ve seen it; I’m a big fan of the ideas behind it, of the play itself, and of the activism it entails. This year is also the tenth anniversary of the play; you can read more about it here. One of my favorite sketches is “The Woman Who Loved to Make Vaginas Happy.” It’s about some woman who used to be a lawyer, but... Read more
When I read the Daily Mail article from the UK entitled I was forced to marry my cousin – it’s normal in my culture, but SO WRONG all I could say was ugh! Why? Let me explain. The article describes the experiences of a Pakistani-British woman, Khaleda, who was forced to marry her father’s cousin, 20 years her senior and from Pakistan. She describes in this article, her devastation at this marriage and the process leading up to it. Her... Read more
Mohja Kahf discusses how Muslim women are viewed in U.S. media. Alefia Hussain of the Daily Times looks at what Pakistani elections have to offer women. The Dutch government decides not to enact an outright ban on the burqa, but seeks to discourage women from wearing it. Sultan Qaboos University in Oman studies women’s participation in sports. Muslim women in Calgary, Canada, defend their mosque from complaints of gender-related breaches of human rights. One woman’s horrific battle with an abusive... Read more
This sloppy article from CNN talks about how Saudi Arabia overreacts to Valentine’s Day every year and bans all things red in an attempt to quash any plans Saudis have to celebrate the holiday. The Saudi government considers Valentine’s Day to be un-Islamic and thus bans roses, teddy bears, and anything Valentine-related. So the article starts out decently enough, talking about why Saudi Arabia discourages the holiday, describing the black market for roses that pops up, and speaks with a... Read more
It’s Valentine’s Day and love is in the air – or at least online. It seems in recent years the number of internet dating sites has rapidly increased. With busy lifestyles people are finding it harder to meet others in person. It seems the online dating bug has bitten our Muslim brothers and sisters as well. Many Muslim dating sites have sprung up. But what are these sites? After all, they say dating is not allowed in Islam so how... Read more
Valentine’s Day isn’t a day where women can just forget about all the problems we face as a gender every day of the year. This parody of Valentine cards has a decent aim: to remind us that just because we may receive a card or some flowers one day out of the year,–or two, if you count International Women’s Day in March–we still have a lot of problems to face (domestic violence, for example). But cartoonist Ann Telnaes’ Valentine is... Read more
The Muslim American organization One Nation is hosting an online film contest about American Muslims. Sponsored by Link TV, the contest features animation, music, comedy, documentary, drama, and films by youth. The short films seek to educating people about “the American Muslim experience,” in all its forms. It’s a great idea. Of course, with twelve pages of entries, you have to sift some clichéd and stereotypical films. Many explain, “Islam is peace” or “I wear hijab so that I’m not... Read more
This is a public service announcement from somewhere in the Arab world (I tried, but I can’t find any information about it in English. Anyone?) that warns against backbiting. I saw it months ago, and it stuck with me, mostly because of the gruesome imagery and color palette. I came upon it again recently: it has been featured on UmmahFilms’ blog and YouTube videos. The video features women talking in a group. We sort of make the assumption that they... Read more
Last Friday, BlogTalkRadio’s The American Muslim presented a special program about Muslim women, specifically in the context of life for Muslims in the United States. Saleema Abdul-Ghafur, author of Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak, guest stars. Check it out. It’s a great interview, despite a somewhat comical technical difficulty an hour into the program: Abdul-Ghafur talks about what inspired her to write/edit her book, whose voices appeared in the book and why, etc. This book sounds really... Read more
Jezebel compares the Lebanese movie Caramel to Beauty Shop. MEMRI finds some pretty disturbing stuff on conservative Islamic websites geared toward women and families. An interesting article about why women wear and do not wear hijab. Two Muslim women who agreed to be in a television program are concerned that they were tricked into participating in a program that portrays them as terrorists and traitors to their country. Shareda Hosein, the chaplain at Tufts University, pushes to become a female... Read more
Muslimah Media Watch
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