Are We So Different: A Documentary Short Film That Falls Short of Telling Women’s Stories

Last updated on: June 18, 2012 at 11:48 pm By diana

Taking the title of “Best Documentary Short Film 2012” in the third Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is the telling documentary, “Amra Ki Etoi Bhinno.” The KASHISH – Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, an annual event held in Mumbai, India since 2010, screens films related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and queer issues India and around the world. “Amra Ki Etoi Bhinno” or “Are We So Different” is a film that follows hijras — a South Asian term for physiological... Read more

The Case of Södertälje: “Immigrants Can Be Racist Too”

Last updated on: June 18, 2012 at 9:03 am By tasnim

On the 3rd of June, four Assyrian teenagers were sentenced to probation and community service for attacking a Somali Muslim woman in Södertälje, Sweden. The attack happened on November 17, 2011. The woman, who wears a headscarf, had been out to buy some milk from a shop in Hovsjö. On the way home, a group of teenagers kicked a football directly at her back. When she tried to get away they caught up with her, and for the next ten minutes screamed... Read more

Friday Links | June 15, 2012

Last updated on: June 14, 2012 at 6:38 pm By anneke

More than a third of Turkish women have experienced sexual and physical violence at some point, but an anti-violence law was watered down in Turkey last March. Activists now fear the erosion of women’s rights and increasing gender based violence. While violence between the Buddhist majority and Muslim minority in Burma/Myanmar is still increasing, neighbouring Bangladesh turned eight boats, carrying over 300 (mainly women and children) Rohingya refugees, away. A young Afghan woman says that her husband shot her, because she... Read more

#UAEDressCode: A Tool for Judgement, or Education?

Last updated on: June 13, 2012 at 4:27 pm By samya

A few years back, when shopping malls turned into major destination for shoppers and tourists in the United Arab Emirates, the issue of how men and women appear in public began to gain greater attention. Mall entrances have come to carry signs and instructions relating not only to pets, trash, bicycles and skaters, but dress codes as well. In a cosmopolitan society, the idea of modesty does not have a clear definition; it just refers to wearing clothes that do... Read more

“The Polygamist is Political”: Muslim Women and the Issue of Polygamy in the West

Last updated on: June 12, 2012 at 12:45 am By eren

A few months ago, while reviewing one of my friend’s profiles on Facebook, I was surprised to see the amount of discussion that Shari’ah rulings regarding marriage provoke in the West. My friend, an orthodox Sunni Muslim and avid follower of the Hanbali school, had commented in a picture from 2010 that depicted Malaysian women protesting against the legality of polygamy. The picture, while not shocking for many of us, seemed to bother a number of commentators across the globe.... Read more

Ridiculing Boko Haram Where It Hurts

Last updated on: June 30, 2012 at 1:39 pm By anike

Editor’s Note: Please join me in welcoming Anike, MMW’s newest contributor! You may know her better from her blog as “cosmic yoruba.” We’re thrilled to have Anike join the MMW team. It is still quite rare to come across depictions of Muslim women in “mainstream” Ghanaian or Nigerian media. (By “mainstream”, I am referring to media available in English or pidgin as opposed to those targeting specific audiences and done in local languages.) When the rare West African Muslim woman... Read more

“Lost” Girls Are Not Sex Objects – Whatever Their Race: Part II

Last updated on: June 12, 2012 at 1:04 pm By merium

In light of several interesting comments to my previous post on the Rochdale “grooming” case, I decided a follow-up piece was in order. Much of the furore surrounding the case has been with respect to race and its alleged role in the attack, specifically: does the “Asian” (Pakistani and thereby Muslim) origin of the attackers play a role in the crime? As stated previously, sexual abuse occurs across all ethnic/racial, socioeconomic and religious groups. Worldwide, women and girls (in particular)... Read more

Revelations As A Result Of Hidden Cameras in Sweden’s Mosques

Last updated on: June 6, 2012 at 8:55 am By Guest Contributor

The post was written by guest contributor Maheen Nusrat. In the latest episode of Swedish television channel SVT’s investigative news programme Uppdrag granskning, ten Swedish mosques were visited, and in six of them, imams were caught on camera giving advice harmful to women and contrary to Swedish law. (An unofficial subtitled version of the episode, thanks to MMW writer Tasnim, is available here.) Using a hidden camera and recording equipment, two women, one posing as an abused wife and the... Read more

Friday Links | June 8, 2012

Last updated on: June 8, 2012 at 1:10 am By anneke

An Indian High Court has decided that the marriage of a 16-year old Muslim girl, who was married without parental consent at age 15, is valid and she can stay in her matrimonial home, even though the legal age of marriage in India is 18. Her mother is against the marriage, saying she was kidnapped, but the girl testified that she left her home out of free will to marry her husband. Once again, conflicting views on the future of women and women’s rights in Egypt: on... Read more

Re-Engaging with the Other “Liberation Theology”

Last updated on: June 5, 2012 at 10:30 pm By sana

Complete with your standard extreme close-up of a hijab-clad woman confusingly looking at the voyeuristic lens before her, the Guardian’s “Comment is Free” section recently featured a piece by writer Nadiya Takolia, entitled: “The Hijab has Liberated Me From Society’s Expectations of Women.” Probably like many readers of this blog, my initial reaction consisted something of a suppressed cough-caught-in-a-groan. (more…) Read more