Human Rights

Like Water on a Cabbage Leaf: Islam and Mental Health Stigma

An examination of mental health stigma as a necessary product of maintaining Muslim norms Content note: physical abuse, imprisonment, interrogation, forced hospitalization, and overmedication.  My analysis concerns mainstream conservative Muslim societies as described in the below culture and context and is not to be taken as universal to all forms …

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GenderHuman Rights

Women’s Rights vs Anti- Muslim Bigotry: An Unfortunate Tension

Today the Arab American News begrudgingly reports, “We hate to do this but…investigators say that the Muslim girl lied about getting attacked by Trump supporters on a NYC subway. She was out drinking with friends and made up the story to ‘distract her angry father.’ She ran away from home …

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GenderHuman RightsUncategorized

That meme comparing hijabis to nuns needs to die in a pit of fire

On the madonna of false equivalences…. Hey hey! I keep seeing this meme going the rounds so I will take the liberty of sharing my spiel about how blatant these false equivalences are: Point one: Well, wouldn’t this just mean that these religions are then all… equally sexist? Even if …

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GenderHuman Rights

The Burkini-Bikini False Equivalence and Your Disproportionate Outrage

What if I told you that you can condemn bans on the hijab while still acknowledging the very real and urgent mechanisms of coercion underlying it? FANCY THAT. In this piece I present a two-part thesis: I, a woman who was coerced into hijab from prepubescent childhood, for 15 years, wholly …

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GenderHuman Rights

Honor Violence, Qandeel Baloch, and the Straw that Broke my Heart

  Rest in Power, Qandeel Baloch, murdered by your own brother in the name of honor. How much is enough before it’s taken seriously, the idea that modesty/purity culture is dangerous and deadly to women? How much honor violence will yet be explained away and ignored and overlooked? How much …

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Human RightsRamadanReligion

I refuse to say Ramadan Mubarak this year — here’s why.

I wont say Ramadan Mubarak to those who practice this year. I have said it in the past, in the years after I came out with my apostasy, wishing nothing but goodwill to my friends and loved ones who choose to practice. Whatever floats your boat as long as you …

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Uncategorized

In defense of the term ‘Regressive Left’

Having been recently and increasingly galled by claims like ‘There is no such thing as the regressive left’, I am compelled to offer a brief  if impassioned defense… Me: *writes detailed critical piece examining how damaging “regressive left” tendencies can arise from progressive thought.* Internet commenters: There’s no such thing as …

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GenderHuman Rights

On “I can’t condemn FGM because of my colonialist past”–A critical discussion of what drives the Regressive Left, and how progressive allies can help

Edit: Check out my follow-up piece, ‘In Defense of the Term Regressive Left‘, inspired by dismissive reactions to this one. My dear liberal, feminist, anti-racist and otherwise progressive allies— I want to talk about what we’ve been calling the ‘regressive left’, and invite you to a more critical humanistic attitude. …

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Human RightsReligion

On ‘There is no compulsion in religion’

There is a huge misconception that I am progressively angrier about, largely because of the way it is wielded. It concerns 2:256, the famous Qur’anic verse that states ‘There is no compulsion in religion’, which is often quoted in part* and taken as evidence that Islam is tolerant of non-Muslims. The …

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Gender

I don’t oppose the hijab because I was forced; I oppose the hijab because it sucks

That’s right. This is a post about a common misapprehension when discussing the hijab, one that has arisen a thousand and one times (or so it seems at the end of this long, long week, since I launched the Ex-Hijabi Fashion Photo Journal). The misapprehension is this: Reasons the hijab …

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