Author: Fatemeh Fakhraie

Founder of Muslimah Media Watch. Content marketing nerd who likes figuring out how stuff works and writing about it. I learned everything about being an adult from The Golden Girls.

Richard Dawkins. Ugh.

People may assume that my dislike of Richard Dawkins is because he’s an atheist and I’m a Muslim.

But I couldn’t care less that he’s an atheist.  My issues with Richard Dawkins are with his disgusting sexism.

Some recent comments he made about sexism in the atheist movement really got under atheist feminists’ skin. But also mine. And so I wrote out my thoughts at Muslimah Media Watch:

Dawkins is injecting Muslim women “over there” into an issue that concerns us as well (sexual harassment and sexism in belief systems), but uses us to derail this issue.

I included some great links to what other feminists are saying about the issue, too. Ms. Magazine is reading it! So should you.

Tomorrow’s journalists are fantastic.

The journalism camp that I volunteered with last week just sent me the fruits of their labor: two fantastic articles and a gorgeous picture!

From left: Samantha Matsumoto, me, and Kiersi Coleman at the Oregonian's Newspaper Institute. Image from Cathy Noah.

This is the result of a week-long journalism camp for underrepresented students. The articles are wonderfully put together, including links and video. I hope the newspaper industry can stick around long enough to scoop up these promising young journalists.

Check out the wonderful story of I Speak for Myself by Kiersi Coleman, and a great  in-depth profile of me by Samantha Matsumoto. It was a pleasure to meet these inspiring young women and read their excellent work–meeting ladies like them makes me feel alright about the kids these days.

Awesome interview with Persephone mag

Check out this interview I did for the awesome Persephone, a “daily blog for bookish, clever women.” I like to think I’m one of those, so I was really excited to speak with Coco Papy for the blog. And I’m even more excited that they love me as much as I love them!

Fatemeh offers a unique perspective that keeps her words honest and real, offering up solid critiques of xenophobia, mediated imagery, immigration, sexism, power structures, Islamophobia, and racism as they affect Muslim women as well as the rest of the world’s perception of Muslim women. A woman who is indeed changing the game, please welcome the amazing Fatemeh Fakhraie to Persephone.

Read up here!

The Oregonian’s High School Journalism Institute

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten the chance to volunteer my time to a cause I care about (other than Muslimah Media Watch!). So I’m really excited to be able to volunteer for The Oregonian’s High School Journalism Institute! It’s a great program that aims to gives underrepresented students a chance to hone their journalism skills:

The institute is a collaborative effort between The Oregonian, Oregon State University, the (Medford) Mail Tribune, the (McMinville) News Register and the Oregon Newspapers Foundation to promote diversity in newsrooms of the future.

This is wonderful–we need more underrepresented voices in the media!

You can read the students’ work and their reflections on their experience at camp on the OregonLive blog. And read about the awesome time I had with them.

I sound off on the Tom MacMaster disaster.

If you haven’t heard about the middle-aged heterosexual white man masquerading as a middle-aged Syrian lesbian, it seems like a plot straight out of a soap opera. Get your popcorn!

My favorite analysis came from KABOBfest, who provides a great breakdown of why MacMaster’s hoax is a serious issue and deconstructs the problematic stuff behind it:

In a queer turn of events it has been exposed that Amina Arraf, known to most as the “Gay Girl in Damascus” is no more than a contrived Orientalist avatar of one 40-year-old white man from Georgia, Tom MacMaster. The first words that came to mind upon hearing the news, were “ILAAN KOS…” but we’re trying to refrain from wasting our indignation on curses (albeit justified) and re-orient the conversation into a productive analysis of what MacMaster’s hoax means for the position of Arabs in western media.

I talk with the International Business Times on Tom MacMaster’s blogging hoax, along with a host of other awesome thinkers, such as May Alhassen and Najla Said. Definitely check it out!

The Future of Islam in the Age of New Media

I am really excited to announce that the first digital conference on Islam is taking place today! Muslimah Media Watch is a proud sponsor of the event, which will take place at 8:30 pm Eastern Standard Time tonight, and I am a proud speaker!

Islam in the Age of New Media

Go to the website to sign up today! You’ll be able to see the full list of speakers, which include journalists, activists, and a few MMW writers. There are a lot of great thinkers to share their thoughts on where Islam is headed in the age of new media–all in one place and at your convenience!

Want to know all about me?

Writer Nancy Haught did a feature piece on me for The Oregonian. It looks at my life, my family, and I Speak for Myself:

Fakhraie’s piece,  “Roots,” appears in “I Speak for Myself: American Women on Being Muslim.” The collection of writing by 40 American Muslim women under the age of 40 was published this month by Ashland’s White Cloud Press. Each entry breaks open the life of a young woman who is at once ordinary and exceptional, who lives her life of faith under a spotlight that is often harsh.

Fakhraie, 27, lives a life in Corvallis that is littered with broken stereotypes, but she chose an essay for “I Speak for Myself” that makes her sound like any young adult, religious or not, who dreads going home.

“Underneath it all, we Muslims aren’t that different,” she says. “Our experience is the American experience.”

Give the whole thing a read and learn all about me. There are some pretty cool photos in there, too!

My first book signing

I had my very first book reading/signing last night, and had such a great time! A huge thank you to Grass Roots Books and Music and OSU’s Women’s Studies Department for helping me put together a wonderful event. The venue was very welcoming and cozy, and Jack (the owner) told me that turnout was much larger than they receive at their other book readings. That sure makes a lady feel special!

He also told me that we sold every single copy of I Speak for Myself: American Women on Being Muslim in the store! Definite WIN!

I spoke for a little bit about the book, read an excerpt from it, and took audience questions. There was some great conversation–Q&A is always my favorite part.

I even got to sign a few books:

Photo by Warren Lawless.

A really wonderful first book signing experience. I had so much fun that I’m going to try and book a few more readings in the next few months in Oregon around Portland and Eugene. So stay tuned for announcements!

My first book reading is today!

If you’re in town, come see me read from I Speak for Myself, sign a few books, and feel like a somebody for an hour or so. I’ll be at Grass Roots Books & Music at 7 pm.

Check out the announcement from OSU: “Fatemeh Fakhraie, a graduate and employee of OSU, will give a talk and reading from her new anthology on the experience of being an American Muslim woman on Monday, May 23 in downtown Corvallis.”

The Corvallis Gazette-Times has a hilariously titled announcement, as well: “American Muslim woman to Speak Monday in Corvallis.”

Trust me, folks, you don’t want to miss an American Muslim woman speaking! It’s the event of the decade. So stop by and see me–not just speaking, but reading and signing books, too!