Things to Know About! Barbie’s latest doll is modeled after Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad. The doll was revealed at the Glamour Women of the Year awards in New York. Muhammad expressed that having a doll modeled on a strong Muslim woman is “revolutionary.” Yoga has become an “approved” sports activity in Saudi Arabia. Nouf Marwaai, […]

After almost 57 years of body-image debate, Barbie finally got an update. Mattel, Barbie’s producer, has announced that they will start issuing dolls that reflect more realistic body types.  At almost the same time, however, another Barbie-related sensation has been sweeping the web: Hijarbie.  Nigerian medical scientist and fashion enthusiast Haneefa Adam decided to start […]

Growing up in Mexico City in the 90’s meant for me that I grew up in a completely different context from my parents. Since my parent’s generation did not have the luxury of foreign products, due to the economic restrictions on international goods, my parents grew up with yellow pencils made in Mexico and traditional […]

Burqa, burqa, burqa. Will we ever reach the stage where there is nothing more to say on the subject? Sometimes I think we’ve covered every angle of critique, but then there comes yet idiocy to be challenged. Worse still, this is idiocy in the name of art. Witness artist Rachel Joy’s latest work. Here we […]

Very seldom does Muslim media produce quality critical analysis of issues facing Muslim women. But emel magazine published a series of articles doing just that to tie in with International Women’s Day, They are, thankfully, not the run-of-the-mill articles about “why hijab” or “how to be the perfect (insert womanly role here)” that a lot of […]

TED Talks are short lectures of no longer than 18 minutes, delivered on a variety of subjects by numerous speakers. Sherin El Feki introduces her lecture as being about pop culture in the Arab world. She then states she’s brought along an old friend and holds up a naked Barbie doll. Then she holds up […]

A recent decision to auction a “Burqa Barbie” for a Save the Children fundraising campaign (“to educate children in conflict areas around the world”) has been making its rounds online this past week.  Of the 500 different Barbies designed by Eliana Lorena, it was only natural for the culturally inappropriate (Islamic!) “Burqa Barbie” to be […]

This post was written by Farah Banihali and originally appeared at AltMuslimah and Nuseiba. Last month Melbourne was host to “Forever Barbie” – an exhibition which “celebrates 50 years of a pop culture icon.” I’ve had my fair share of Barbie dolls when I was younger, but an exhibition? Since when did Barbie become an […]