http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/ 15 Gender and Sexuality in Islam and beyond en Copyright 2011 Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:20:55 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=4.2-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Washington Post blogs have moved. If you are subscribing to the RSS feed for this blog, you may need to re-subscribe with the new feed URL. If you stop receiving updates from this feed, please visit http://www.washingtonpost.com/rss where you can see all of our feeds and re-subscribe to this feed or sign up for new ones. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/03/the_rss_feed_for_this_blog_has_moved.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/03/the_rss_feed_for_this_blog_has_moved.html Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:20:55 -0500 Spoiler Alert!!! The following article presents specific story details about the film, MOOZ-lum. By Usame Tunagur, contributor to AltMuslimah.com Stereotypical Muslim misrepresentation in films is as old as film history itself, if not older, as seen in Orientalist paintings, novels, and plays which pre-date the invention of film by centuries. One of the founding fathers of cinema, Georges Méliès, directed The Terrible Turkish Executioner as early as 1904; in this short film, a Mus-lim/Turkish executioner chopped off four people's heads in one swish, with a Sinbad-like sword wearing "typical Muslim garb." Later, through the visual magic Melies was known for, the chopped heads rolled back to where they belong, and the four took their revenge by chopping off the executioner's head. Fast-forward a hundred years to films released as recently as the last five to 10 years, and you will see updated versions of the same one-dimensional representation of Muslim http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/02/mooz-lum_the_movie.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/02/mooz-lum_the_movie.html Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:57:06 -0500 By Michael Vicente Perez and Zeba Iqbal, contributors to AltMuslimah.com Zeba: Hi Michael! Happy 2011! Did you see news this month about The World Economic Forum's gender quota at its annual Davos event? I cheered when I read it because with this quota, this year's WEF is making a strong statement for women at their premier event known for bringing together global business and political leaders, along with selected intellectuals and journalists to discuss the world's most pressing issues. The way I see it, the only way to force solutions, at least initially, is to mandate certain behaviors. I know that there are women out there who say that they don't like positive discrimination and others who don't like quotas in general. But the truth is that the facts on women in corporations are gloomy. Michael: And a happy new year to you Zeba. Great to catch up again, especially http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/01/do_religious_institutions_need_pro-woman_quotas.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/01/do_religious_institutions_need_pro-woman_quotas.html Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:23:50 -0500 By Joi Samson I was raised in a very religious Christian household.  Religion is as much a part of our family's identity as are the black eyed peas, corn bread and greens we eat after Sunday service.  At any given time, guests who walk into our home would be greeted by Christian, TBN/Moody Bible/Focus on the Family orchestra blaring on all three televisions and the radio.  Outwardly, I sang in the church choir, orchestrated college trips to service and dutifully made communion every first Sunday.  But internally, a storm of confusion brewed.  I think I concealed my doubts fairly well, but my mother's perceptive eyes would press me about where I was in my faith.  I tried to talk to her about it, and while our conversations would start off sane,  somewhere along the way I'd eventually pop up with one too many questions.  Core-to-the-belief questions.  Maybe even blasphemous questions.  In fact, our exchanges would http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/01/a_quiet_evolution_of_faith_sort_of.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/01/a_quiet_evolution_of_faith_sort_of.html Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:15:08 -0500 By Ashley Samelson McGuire, contributor to Altmuslimah.com When I did a search for Professor Robert P. George, Ryan Anderson, and Sherif Girgis' recent essay "What is Marriage?" for the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, I couldn't help but notice the Google advertisements that appeared on my sidebar. The first touted "Gay Marriage in D.C." The second offered guidance on how to "Become a Marriage Therapist." The third, and most disconcerting, advertised for "Beautiful Russian Girls Seeking Marriage in USA." Philosophy, politics, shrinks, and mail-order brides. One webpage, one topic, four extraordinarily different approaches; a cacophonic illustration of how garbled society's understanding of marriage has truly become. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/01/the_biology_of_marriage.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/01/the_biology_of_marriage.html Fri, 07 Jan 2011 13:01:17 -0500 By Nadia S. Mohammad, contributor to Altmuslimah.com Last week AltMuslimah explored feminism and faith in relation to patriarchal movements, and concluded that it is not possible for women of any faith to thoroughly enjoy their God-given rights in a society where "God" is replaced with "men." Saudi Arabia is perhaps the quintessential example of the modern display of faith gone awry when religion is defined by men. The kingdom is home to the birthplace of Islam; its extreme gender disparities, largely symbolized by women in veil, are how we in the West view the status of women in Islam. So when Sheikh Ahmed al-Ghamdi, head of the Mecca branch of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, recently denounced Saudi's strict gender segregation and dress code, he astounded Saudi and Western audiences alike. Dr. Faten Khorshid, a cancer researcher, works at the lab at the King http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/01/muslim_womens_rights_the_politics_of_fashion.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2011/01/muslim_womens_rights_the_politics_of_fashion.html Thu, 06 Jan 2011 09:56:11 -0500 By: Nadia S. Mohammad and Anisah Hashmi, contributors to Altmuslimah.com "Stay At Home Daughters" sounds like a slogan for Wahhabi Islam, but is actually an extension of the American Christian Patriarchy Movement. Stay-At-Home-Daughters (SAHD) encourages young women to relinquish higher education and employment outside of the home and devote themselves to their fathers until they become wives and mothers. Claims by writers such as Kathryn Joyce, author of Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, that thousands of young women reject feminism in favor of patriarchal complementarianism is intriguing, to say the least. Somehow by reinstating traditional gender roles, these women feel they are rebelling against societal norms. Has feminism really failed these women or have they just given up?  SAHDs fall under the patriarchal Christian movement, which views the world as imperiled by all non-Christians and dismisses mainstream Christianity as corrupted by feminists. While claiming to recognize the rights of women, http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/12/stay_at_home_daughters_new_age_feminists_or_intellectually_lazy.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/12/stay_at_home_daughters_new_age_feminists_or_intellectually_lazy.html Thu, 30 Dec 2010 10:14:59 -0500 By Shazia Kamal, contributor to Altmuslimah.com Baber Ibrahim, in his Guardian piece, "This Trend of Young Muslim Girls Wearing the Hijab is Disturbing," propagates a hodgepodge of observations and speculations about why there is apparently a visible increase in the number of little girls (under the age of ten) donning the hijab. He claims that wearing one at this age leads to the sexualization of girls, which runs opposite the goal of observing modesty and humility. I would call that claim fair only because of the hegemonic sexualized worldview of typically everything related to gender issues in Islam. Still, Mr. Ibrahim offers an over-simplified survey of the scene. Examining this trend from a sexual perspective alone easily delegitimizes those situations in which girls choose to wear the hijab. It is entirely possible that an eight-year-old girl can elect to wear the hijab, not because she is aware of her sexuality, http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/12/little_hijabi_women.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/12/little_hijabi_women.html Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:28:32 -0500 By Michael Vicente Perez and Zeba Iqbal, contributors to AltMuslimah Michael: Hi Zeba. The mid-term elections are over and, as predicted, the Park 51 controversy is also finished. But now it's time to turn to new controversies. The latest has to do with a new version of "the clash of civilizations." This time, however, the battlefield is a university swimming pool. Apparently, George Washington University's decision to grant Muslim women a "women-only" hour at the Lerner Health and Wellness Center reflects some civilizational divide between "America" and "Islam." I figured you'd have a dog in this fight considering your alumni status. Comments on this one suggest all sorts of issues but one that caught my attention had to do with tolerance. According to one critic, "Westerners" should not have to go so far to accommodate Muslim needs. "We're doing too much for them," the argument goes. This one strikes me http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/11/where_are_the_moderate_americans.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/11/where_are_the_moderate_americans.html Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:15:14 -0500 By Zarin Hamid, contributor to AltMuslimah The story of NiqaBitch's tongue in cheek protest has taken over France. "NiqaBitch" refers to a duo who posted a controversial video (contains strong language) showing two women walking about Paris in face veils paired with black mini-shorts and high heels. The short clip was intended as a demonstration against France's recent legislation banning the niqab (burqa) in public places. According to the two women, their aim was to criticize the French ban using a contradictory juxtaposition of legs in mini-shorts and full face veil to see how the public and authorities would react to such a display. In their own statement that appeared originally in French in Rue89, they explain,"we've decided to challenge the traditional interpretation of what it means to wear the niqab. [...] We didn't intend to attack or insult the feelings of orthodox Muslims -- to each their own. Rather, http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/11/female_flesh_and_the_face_veil.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/11/female_flesh_and_the_face_veil.html Thu, 11 Nov 2010 14:06:57 -0500 By Beenish Ahmed, contributor to AltMuslimah Last week, Juan Williams, a high-ranking news analyst, made some off-the-cuff comments on "The O\'Reilly Factor" that cost him his job at NPR. He explained to Bill O\'Reilly that he was no bigot, adding the qualification: "But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous." Perhaps it is Williams' track record as a renowned historian of the Civil Rights movement that made his unsavory comments all the more unpalatable. As might be expected, the words hit a nerve with Muslims in America who already feel as they are unduly targeted for supposedly "random searches" in airport security, sometimes held for hours so as to miss connecting flights. http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/10/muslims_wearing_things_and_also_taking_stands.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/10/muslims_wearing_things_and_also_taking_stands.html Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:26:04 -0500 Un-identifying" Homosexuality: A Look at Homosexuality through the Eastern Lens By: Shazia Kamal, Contributor to Altmuslimah.com When news of Saudi Prince Saud Abdulaiziz Bin Nasir Al Saud being found guilty of murdering his aide and possibly being gay made headlines, I figured then that the discussion of homosexuality in the Muslim world had unofficially shifted from the private realm to the public one. Knowing the silent and largely hostile attitude towards homosexuality, I actually felt uncomfortable for the Muslim world, as well as Saudi Arabia, for being squarely placed in the spotlight for a taboo topic. According to Prosecutor Jonathon Laidlaw QC with regards to the murder trial in London, when Saudi Prince Saud Abdulaiziz Bin Nasir Al Saud "...denied being a homosexual to try to hide the 'abusive undertone'" of a relationship between the prince and the victim, Bandar Abdulaziz, it is possible that he genuinely did not consider http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/10/homosexuality_in_islam.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/10/homosexuality_in_islam.html Mon, 25 Oct 2010 07:28:37 -0500 By Rifk Ebeid, contributor to Altmuslimah.com I stared pensively at the question on the screen, "Are you sure you want to deactivate?" I took a deep breath and coaxed myself into remaining steadfast in my decision. I replayed all the heated debates with friends leading up to my decision: "It invades your privacy;" "Everyone knows your business;" "It's a waste of time;" "It is [often useless] information overload." I had resolved to click the "Yes" option, but now a wave of anxiety paralyzed my finger. "How will you easily keep in touch with everyone?" "How will you know what events are going on, and how will you advertise for your events?" I lingered briefly, conflicted by all the questions racing through my head, but then I just did it - I clicked "Yes." What followed was an electronic breakup accompanied by an adieu that felt almost equivalent to a painful http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/10/facebook.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/10/facebook.html Wed, 13 Oct 2010 18:35:34 -0500 By Zehra Rizavi, contributor to Altmuslimah.com Editor's note: A French constitutional court Thursday determined that the measure banning the Islamic face veil "conforms to the Constitution," according to the AP. That endorsement moves the measure forward. Two weeks ago the French Senate passed a piece of legislation 246 votes to one to outlaw the face veil worn by a small number of the country's Muslim women, with President Nicolas Sarkozy stating, in no uncertain terms, that the face veil is "not welcome" in France. The law follows at the heels of the Belgian parliament's ban on the full face veil--known as the burqa or niqab--in public places. "It is necessary that the law forbids the wearing of clothes that totally mask and enclose an individual," said Daniel Bacquelaine, who proposed the bill, adding that he was not targeting the classic headscarf worn by many Muslim women. "Wearing the burqa in http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/10/what_not_to_wear_outlawing_the_face_veil.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/10/what_not_to_wear_outlawing_the_face_veil.html Mon, 04 Oct 2010 11:10:31 -0500 By Shazia Kamal, contributor to Altmuslimah.com I am not "visibly" a Muslim female-- in other words, I don't wear a hijab, the headscarf worn by some of my Muslim peers. Because people cannot instantly identify my belief system through my physical appearance, specifically my garb, I have not been at the receiving end of the direct hatred and vitriol that has been spewed at those who do don the headscarf; I have not had someone snatch off my headscarf in order to taunt and humiliate me; and I have not been dismissed or ignored in a professional or social setting because of my "suspicious" appearance. In truth, I have passed as a non-Muslim female, making my post 9/11 experience fundamentally different from that of my fellow hijabi sisters, but I still consider myself a Muslim woman, in every sense of the term. Living in the United States, I have both http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/09/what_does_a_muslim_woman_look_like.html?wprss=onfaithaltmuslimah http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/altmuslimah/2010/09/what_does_a_muslim_woman_look_like.html Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:03:57 -0500