{"id":6304,"date":"2010-06-11T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2010-06-11T07:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muslimahmediawatch.org\/?p=6304"},"modified":"2010-06-11T00:00:46","modified_gmt":"2010-06-11T07:00:46","slug":"interview-with-the-butterfly-mosque-author-g-willow-wilson-on-women-the-media-and-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2010\/06\/interview-with-the-butterfly-mosque-author-g-willow-wilson-on-women-the-media-and-islam\/","title":{"rendered":"G. Willow Wilson: On Women, the Media, and Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Editor\u2019s Note: Readers, since this has been a busy week of travel for me, I haven\u2019t been able to put together a regular Friday links. But we\u2019ve got a treat for you! Enjoy Raaz\u2019s interview with G. Willow Wilson!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

In The Butterfly Mosque<\/em>, G. Willow Wilson presents her own personal experience of her conversion to Islam and evolving understanding of womanhood, relationships, media, and culture. \u00a0I had a chance to review her memoir and interview her. \u00a0Here are my five questions with author G. Willow Wilson:<\/p>\n

Raaz for MMW: <\/strong>There are relatively few contemporary novels or memoirs that provide an even-handed insight to the intricate facets of Islam.\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of any other books that offer an American Muslim woman\u2019s perspective towards life in a cross-cultural context.\u00a0 What inspired you to write your memoir?<\/p>\n

G. Willow Wilson: <\/strong>Butterfly Mosque<\/em> came out of the emails I wrote to family and friends back home after moving to Egypt. Several people suggested I turn them into a book. So the memoir really started out as more of a travelogue, but grew and refined as I thought about it and edited it. The final product is much more emotional and spiritual than my original draft\u2013much more a Muslim coming-of-age story than a travelogue.<\/p>\n

MMW:<\/strong> In your memoir, you attribute the lack of female leadership in Islamic hierarchy to westernization during a conversation with Sufi Sheikha Sanaa Dewidaar.\u00a0 As there are increased opportunities for social interaction between men and women, \u201cwesternized\u201d societies resort to Sheikhs to address concerns from both men and women, while fewer individuals seek guidance from Sheikhas.\u00a0 Do you think that westernization of societies has also inhibited the voices of Muslim women (or even of women regardless of religion) to be heard in other spheres, such as the media?<\/p>\n

GWW:<\/strong> It\u2019s difficult to say. I think Sheikha Sanaa\u2019s point was that you can\u2019t just upend the norms that have existed in a society for hundreds of years and expect things to sort of magically get better. In the realm of religious education in Egypt, all desegregation has done is give men access to the jobs traditionally held by women, so according to Sheikha Sanaa the role of women in religious scholarship and leadership has actually deteriorated. On the other hand, women\u2019s access to secular education and the job market has radically improved. So it\u2019s a mixed bag.<\/p>\n

MMW:<\/strong> On women\u2019s defense of culture, you state: \u201cWhen people wonder why Arab women defend their culture, they focus on the way women who don\u2019t follow the rules are punished, and fail to consider the way women who do follow the rules are rewarded\u201d (210).\u00a0 While I agree with this statement, what happens when women want to change tenets of their culture instead of defending it?\u00a0 When defending culture, isn\u2019t there a propensity to point out strengths while overlooking flaws (while those who wonder why women defend their culture tend to see flaws while overlooking strengths)?\u00a0 Is it possible to defend culture, or is it something that should remain free from defense?<\/p>\n

GWW: <\/strong>These are very complex questions and I\u2019m not sure I\u2019m in a position to answer them with any kind of authority\u2026at the end of the day, Arab women will decide what is best for Arab women. When I am in Egypt, I am along for the ride\u2013I am a privileged outsider, but an outsider nonetheless. I think women who undertake any kind of cultural reform are disproportionately punished by their peer groups\u2026look how many early feminist thinkers, both in the West and in the Arab world, committed suicide. Virginia Woolf, May Ziadeh, several other notables. Men seem to take far less heat for being unconventional, all over the world.<\/p>\n

MMW: <\/strong>On a healthy romantic relationship in Islam: While reading the book, I particularly enjoyed your nuanced portrayal of a healthy, romantic relationship with Omar that included difficulties that any couple in a cross-cultural relationship might encounter\u2014it seems too often that the media and public identify unhealthy relationships as the norm between Muslim men and women, where relationships are devoid of any romantic emotions, women face abuse from their significant others, or women are forced to accept arranged marriages (I look at Muslim relationships in some of my previous posts on the film Arranged<\/a> and memoir Children of Dust<\/a>).\u00a0 How do you explain the connection between the (usually negative) perceptions towards romantic relationships in Islam and, subsequently, how the media perceives the religion itself?<\/p>\n

GWW: <\/strong>One of the big differences between western and traditional Islamic social mores is the attitude toward gender interaction. It\u2019s developed into an unhealthy fascination with the way \u201cthe other side\u201d lives, and the result is a huge media emphasis on ugly relationships between Muslims. Abuse within Muslim marriages has become a form of pornography in the West. I think the media knows what its audience wants and gives it to them.<\/p>\n

MMW: <\/strong>On the inaccurate portrayal of Muslim life in the media and public discussion: In the book, you state:<\/p>\n

Yet there was so much about Islam and the people who lived it that was left unsaid in the media and in public discussion, and I could do something about it.\u00a0 Staying silent when I saw news stories that were incomplete or religious issues that were poorly analyzed felt tantamount to lying.\u00a0 Beyond that, I had to relearn how to talk to my own people. (227-228)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What advice would you give to Muslim women who want to break their silence on religious inaccuracies and further the dialogue about what it means to be Muslim?\u00a0 How can we \u201crelearn how to talk to our own people\u201d?<\/p>\n

GWW: <\/strong>I think every Muslim woman has to feel the world out for herself. This conflict is ultimately personal. I wish I had brilliant advice to give, but the fact is I take things one day at a time, one story at a time. We are not living in ordinary times\u2013and that\u2019s assuming there even is such a time as ordinary times. If you love things or ideas or people that contradict each other, you have to be prepared to fight for every square inch of intellectual real estate you occupy. The hardest thing in the world, I think, is to have to defend good people from one another, and if you\u2019re a Muslim woman in the public eye you have to do a lot of that. It hurts, but God always feels very, very close.<\/p>\n

Author G. Willow Wilson\u2019s memoir,\u00a0The Butterfly Mosque<\/em>, is available now<\/a>.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: Readers, since this has been a busy week of travel for me, I haven\u2019t been able to put together a regular Friday links. But we\u2019ve got a treat for you! Enjoy Raaz\u2019s interview with G. Willow Wilson! In The Butterfly Mosque, G. Willow Wilson presents her own personal experience of her conversion to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,8],"tags":[96,491,1355],"class_list":["post-6304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-booksmagazines","category-culturesociety","tag-american-muslims","tag-g-willow-wilson","tag-the-butterfly-mosque"],"yoast_head":"\nG. 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