Apparently, and without much to my own knowledge, I, as the generic Muslim female, have been gettin’ the haraam on in public washrooms. Okay, a huge exaggeration but this stems from a frustration rooted in a justified source of contempt for media coverage of the female body of the non-European/White persuasion. There is something sincerely tiring about this voyeuristic obsession with not only the sex lives and sexualities of women but those, in particular, of Muslim (see also: ethnic, brown, ‘other’) women…

While the state-run Pakistan Television channel (PTV) maintains its reputation as the government channel, a growing number of private channels have a tendency to sensationalize news with their shiny news desks, attractive anchorpersons and modern shows, something I have seen in channels across state lines in India.  The “masala angles” (news with dramatizations of a […]

The headline of a recent series about Muslim women of the community in the Utica Observer-Dispatch reads, “Behind the veil: Stereotypes can be frustrating for Muslim women.”  Major groan.  You know what else can be frustrating for Muslim women?  Headlines like “Behind the veil.” But for the most part, this article, and its related stories […]

It is a scene that wouldn’t be unfamiliar in France or Belgium: a woman’s hijab is snatched away by strangers on the street from her head despite her protest. She is told she shouldn’t wear it, or rather, she has no right to because her wearing it mocks other women and femininity itself. But it […]

Egypt, like the rest of the Middle East, has been suffering for a long time from street harassment. Naturally, different Egyptian intellects have been trying to emphasize the problem and highlight what can be the start of solving it. Mohamed Diab, a young Egyptian writer, wrote and directed the movie “678,” which focuses on this […]

Abdulaziz Al Qahtani is a Saudi Arabian artist based in London. His first exhibition, “An Intimate Geography,” is at the Lahd Gallery. It examines the contradictory relationship between Middle Eastern women and Western society. The exhibition is comprised of a series of twelve images that aim to show the complexities of life in the Middle […]

Western writers have always had a fascination for veiled women. Read any explorers’ diaries on their experiences with “exotic” women who cover their hair and their face. But few people realize the parallels between the exotic veiled women of yesteryear and the veiled Muslim women of today. An interesting example of this is found in […]

In a recent article by heralded Muslim Feminist Mona Eltahawy in the ever-tabloid Toronto Star, asks to be allowed to confuse you, the reader, by virtue of the apparently contradictory label self-assigned to her socio-political and religious beliefs. The point of article, as it become somewhat clear-ish in the last few sparse paragraphs, is to shed light on how despite her unorthodox views on Islam, and particularly gender in Islam, the faith “belongs” to her as much as to any other Muslim, more orthodox than her or not. This perspective frames her support for the Mosque near Ground Zero in New York City, Park51; a support caught between ” [televangelist] Bill Keller’s right wing: bigoted and xenophobic [..and] the Muslim right wing, which uses Islam…to fuel its misogyny.”

According to a recent study carried out by Transparency International, Somalia was deemed to be the most corrupt nation in the world. The economic and political instability of Somalia has made it the site of many human rights violations, particularly against women. Females are underrepresented in the workforce as well as education. In fact, slightly […]

The desire to crown an intelligent, sexy-yet-fashionable lady as the Carrie Bradshaw of the Middle East has been a fierce competition, because, you know, there is nothing more mysterious than the lack of sex and dating in the Middle East. With the help of a string of labels, high society, and awkward adventures in romance, […]