{"id":5507,"date":"2010-01-21T00:00:33","date_gmt":"2010-01-21T08:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muslimahmediawatch.org\/?p=5507"},"modified":"2010-01-21T00:00:33","modified_gmt":"2010-01-21T08:00:33","slug":"tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Tahmena Bokhari: A Study in (How We Talk About) Contradictions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Tahmena
Tahmena Bokhari. Via the Toronto Star.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Tahmena Bokhari, a feminist, Muslim, Canadian, social worker, and educator, was recently crowned Mrs. Pakistan 2010<\/a> (not to be confused with Miss Pakistan World<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Bokhari\u2019s accomplishments are varied and impressive: a master\u2019s degree in social work, a history of working at women\u2019s shelters and other humanitarian initiatives.\u00a0 She currently teaches social work at two different colleges, and also acts as a diversity consultant.\u00a0 There\u2019s a good interview with her here<\/a> about her experiences with the Mrs. Pakistan pageant, and about her work in general.<\/p>\n

What I want to look at are some of the ways that Bokhari\u2019s identity is being talked about in the media.\u00a0 A Toronto Star<\/em> article about her<\/a> starts off as follows:<\/p>\n

Tahmena Bokhari is Mrs. Pakistan 2010. She was crowned in a Mississauga motel in December.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Muslim is also a diehard feminist.<\/p>\n

Get your head around all that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like an oxymoron, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d she says from the couch in her family\u2019s spacious Woodbridge home [\u2026]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Similarly, an article about Bokhari in a local community newspaper<\/a> where she lives refers to her in the headline as \u201ca world of contradictions,\u201d and proceeds to highlight some of these co-called contradictions:<\/p>\n

She\u2019s Canadian, but Pakistani. She\u2019s Muslim, but also a feminist. She is a Seneca College professor, a social activist, married and, to top it all off, Mrs. Pakistan World.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Alright.\u00a0 I get that, in mainstream media, beauty queens aren\u2019t usually associated with feminism, Islam isn\u2019t usually associated with feminism or <\/em>beauty pageants, and a competition named \u201cMrs. Pakistan\u201d might normally be assumed to happen in Pakistan, not Canada.\u00a0 So yeah, there are some people who would find apparent contradictions \u2013 or, at least, surprises \u2013 in all of the labels that Bokhari carries.<\/p>\n

But the focus on the supposed contradictions (emphasized by both journalists and, at times, by Bokhari herself) starts to feel like the unhelpful \u201cWow!\u00a0 Look at those Muslim women breaking stereotypes!\u201d trope, which I wrote about recently<\/a> in reference to an article about female Muslim activists.\u00a0 It\u2019s not always wrong or completely out of place, but it does tend to reinforce the existing stereotypes by pointing to the fact that this is <\/em>a contradiction, and that if we have difficulty grasping it, this relates to the exceptional nature of the woman herself, and not to our own preconceptions of what we thought she would be like.\u00a0 In other words, it lets the audience off the hook, and leaves their prejudices unexamined.<\/p>\n

And even if Bokhari truly does embody an unexpected combination of qualities, really, we\u2019re all human, and humans are complex beings.\u00a0 Having multiple identities isn\u2019t something new.\u00a0 The repeated \u201cbut\u201d in the local newspaper article ignores the fact that there are thousands of people who are Canadian and<\/em> Pakistani, and a whole lot of people who are Muslim and<\/em> feminist.\u00a0 We don\u2019t need to keep talking about these things as if they should be assumed to preclude each other.<\/p>\n

In contrast, this blog post from Change.Org<\/a> does a much better job of toning down the sensationalism, and looking more openly at the multiple facets of Bokhari\u2019s identity.\u00a0 It begins with an acknowledgement that \u201cwomen don\u2019t have to fit into neat little role boxes,\u201d and that \u201cBokhari refreshingly sees continuity<\/em> between being a Muslim, a feminist, a beauty queen, an activist, a scholar, a consultant, a writer, and an advocate for contesting the media\u2019s portrayals of Muslims, Islam, and women.\u201d (my emphasis)\u00a0 Attempts to \u201cpin women down\u201d into categories are seen as problems with the media\u2019s mindset, and not as neutral realities to be overcome only by the exceptional few.\u00a0 The writer concludes with:<\/p>\n

What a concept: beauty doesn\u2019t have to exclude intelligence, feminism doesn\u2019t have to exclude Islam, passionate work and activism don\u2019t have to trump family life, sexuality, and cultural ties. Women can embody all of these things without having to slap any particular label on their foreheads. Liberation, indeed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, Bokhari is still talked about here in terms of her multiple identities; although the writer does much more to challenge the assumptions made about these identities, Bokhari doesn\u2019t exactly get the chance to just \u201cbe,\u201d without any of this being an issue at all.\u00a0 However, if we are going to be talking about the diverse categories in which Bokhari places herself, this last post demonstrates, at the very least, that celebrating someone\u2019s accomplishments doesn\u2019t have to mean reinforcing the stereotypes that made the person\u2019s identity appear unlikely.\u00a0 It can even include a critical look at the systems and structures that lead people to see her as a contradiction or as an exception to an unexamined rule.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tahmena Bokhari, a feminist, Muslim, Canadian, social worker, and educator, was recently crowned Mrs. Pakistan 2010 (not to be confused with Miss Pakistan World). Bokhari\u2019s accomplishments are varied and impressive: a master\u2019s degree in social work, a history of working at women\u2019s shelters and other humanitarian initiatives.\u00a0 She currently teaches social work at two different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,13],"tags":[187,1332],"class_list":["post-5507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culturesociety","category-events","category-news","tag-beauty-pageants","tag-tahmena-bokhari"],"yoast_head":"\nTahmena Bokhari: A Study in (How We Talk About) Contradictions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tahmena Bokhari, a feminist, Muslim, Canadian, social worker, and educator, was recently crowned Mrs. Pakistan 2010 (not to be confused with Miss Pakistan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tahmena Bokhari: A Study in (How We Talk About) Contradictions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tahmena Bokhari, a feminist, Muslim, Canadian, social worker, and educator, was recently crowned Mrs. Pakistan 2010 (not to be confused with Miss Pakistan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Muslimah Media Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-01-21T08:00:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/files\/2010\/01\/Bokhari.jpeg.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Krista\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Krista\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/\",\"name\":\"Tahmena Bokhari: A Study in (How We Talk About) Contradictions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-01-21T08:00:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-01-21T08:00:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/fe832019fd0850b017644ee2e0d767d0\"},\"description\":\"Tahmena Bokhari, a feminist, Muslim, Canadian, social worker, and educator, was recently crowned Mrs. Pakistan 2010 (not to be confused with Miss Pakistan\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tahmena Bokhari: A Study in (How We Talk About) Contradictions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\",\"name\":\"Muslimah Media Watch\",\"description\":\"Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/fe832019fd0850b017644ee2e0d767d0\",\"name\":\"Krista\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/073ef96068f408208691d41e19dcce7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/073ef96068f408208691d41e19dcce7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Krista\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/author\/krista\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tahmena Bokhari: A Study in (How We Talk About) Contradictions","description":"Tahmena Bokhari, a feminist, Muslim, Canadian, social worker, and educator, was recently crowned Mrs. Pakistan 2010 (not to be confused with Miss Pakistan","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tahmena Bokhari: A Study in (How We Talk About) Contradictions","og_description":"Tahmena Bokhari, a feminist, Muslim, Canadian, social worker, and educator, was recently crowned Mrs. Pakistan 2010 (not to be confused with Miss Pakistan","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/","og_site_name":"Muslimah Media Watch","article_published_time":"2010-01-21T08:00:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/files\/2010\/01\/Bokhari.jpeg.jpg"}],"author":"Krista","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Krista","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/","name":"Tahmena Bokhari: A Study in (How We Talk About) Contradictions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-01-21T08:00:33+00:00","dateModified":"2010-01-21T08:00:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/fe832019fd0850b017644ee2e0d767d0"},"description":"Tahmena Bokhari, a feminist, Muslim, Canadian, social worker, and educator, was recently crowned Mrs. Pakistan 2010 (not to be confused with Miss Pakistan","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/01\/tahmena-bokhari-a-study-in-how-we-talk-about-contradictions\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tahmena Bokhari: A Study in (How We Talk About) Contradictions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/","name":"Muslimah Media Watch","description":"Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/fe832019fd0850b017644ee2e0d767d0","name":"Krista","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/073ef96068f408208691d41e19dcce7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/073ef96068f408208691d41e19dcce7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Krista"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/author\/krista\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/155"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}