Growing up in Mexico, neither hijabs nor niqabs were a thing. On paper, we are still a very Catholic country with 83% of the population being identified as such in the national census. Muslims in Mexico are concentrated among Lebanese-Mexican communities and southern Indigenous communities in Chiapas, Mexico. Broadly speaking, twenty years ago we were […]

I have a crush on a muppet. Yes, my most recent girl-crush is on a fuzzy magenta puppet in vibrant dresses. I am smitten with Sesame Street’s newest family member from Afghanistan: Zari. I grew up watching Sesame Street. My mom tells me how my schedule as a preschooler was set around watching Ernie & […]

In February, The Daily Beast published this story on Nadia Ali, a Pakistani-American porn star who is, as the article describes, “a 24-year-old…. first-generation American from Pakistan. She’s been in the adult industry for just a year, but doesn’t mind pushing religious boundaries in the name of XXX entertainment. Oh, and she’s also a practicing […]

One of the biggest problems that Muslim women face today is the need to deconstruct and reconstruct narratives of ourselves in the media. (That’s why Muslimah Media Watch exists, amirite?) A recent interview of  Professor Jackie Ying, a Chinese Muslim scientist in Singapore, by a Singaporean Malay language news channel shows that this need can […]

Recently, The Atlantic posted a short film produced by the Thomas Reuters Foundation (trust.org) about one Syrian woman’s new life, Starting Over in the Netherlands. It begins by showing a picturesque view of the city, Kessel-Eik, as the woman, Hanadi, bikes through it. As a tranquil melody plays, we see a church behind trees, a […]

Here we go again. Another terror attack and who gets the brunt of the backlash? Hijab wearing Muslim women; easily identifiable and perceived as easy targets. Very recently, two incidents popped up on Twitter; one in Croydon and one in Washington, DC. Matthew Doyle boasted on Twitter that he “confronted a Muslim woman in Croydon. […]

When I came to Canada almost ten years ago, multiculturalism was sold to me as the one and only policy that could guarantee the peaceful and productive mingling of cultures within a country. When I was enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL) program, “integration” was one of the things we were taught. Thus, […]

Austin, Texas prides itself on the mega-popular South by Southwest (SXSW) festival that is a celebration of arts and tech cultures through interactive sessions and meetings. According to the SXSW website, participation in this festival helps with ‘fostering creative and professional growth alike’. Having very recently been in Austin and despite my hesitations about the […]

  The producing and dissemination of images by mainstream media has a direct impact on society. It affects the ways that we view ourselves and the way we perceive others. Television, film, advertising, and even education all play a role in spreading specific versions of reality. Communities who experience state-violence, police brutality, and increased rates […]

Four years ago I wrote “How are Muslim Women doing in Political Cartoons,” a piece that analyzed the use of gendered and islamophobic language in Anglophone political cartoons. At the time, I was writing my undergraduate thesis, which focused on media coverage of First Ladies in Mexico, particularly in political cartoons. Later that year, I […]