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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GenderHuman Rights

Surah Nisa 34 (Q4:34) – Does the Quran condone domestic violence?

The author, Hassan Radwan identifies as an Agnostic Muslim and is the founder of the first Agnostic Muslims organization. You can read more about him and the work of Agnostic Muslims at http://agnoslims.com . His prior work includes founding CEMB (Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain). Verse 34 of Surah al-Nisa. …

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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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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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Gender

The World Behind the Veil: What Listening to Women Taught This Man

  This is a guest piece by Mazen Abdallah, an ex-Muslim, comedian, and teacher. He is an American of Syrian-Lebanese origin who lives in Lebanon, and would like to talk about how reading the Ex-Hijabi Photo Journal–which you should go check out if you haven’t already–has influenced his perception of …

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Gender

My interview with VICE about the Ex-Hijabi Fashion Photo Journal

My interview with VICE about the Ex-Hijabi Fashion Photo Journal I’ll take a moment to note that this interview is the first time I publicly use my real name in conjunction with my ex-Muslim work! Here’s an excerpt:   But my body is not an object of discord to be …

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Gender

I’m not exchanging my hijab for a bulletproof vest

  This post is for a subset of my allies. It’s been building up for a bit but sort of crescendoed with a lot of the responses to my Ex-Hijabi Fashion Photo Journal project, which is fabulous and you should totally check out before you read another word, go go …

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