The sixth annual Brass Cresent blog awards are here! The last two years, Muslimah Media Watch has received honorable mentions for Best Group Blog and Best Female Blog–maybe this year we can get an actual award, enshallah.
If you’d like to see my baby up there as much as I would, go here and nominate us!
In JO magazine, Natalia Antonova and I discuss her experiences as a foreign woman who doesn’t wear hejab in a Muslim-majority country:
“I don’t like how the idea of hijab is fixed, as if once you take it on or off, there’s no going back,” she said, when I asked her about what it meant to put it on as a safety measure. “It doesn’t allow for the realities and differing circumstances of life.” We talked about how, beyond being a sign of religious expression, the hijab can function as a “do not approach” sign when one is surrounded by strangers.
I have been absent for awhile, friends. Many apologies!
The Chesler vs. Wolf dust-up happened immediately on the heels of The Guardian’s series “Can Western feminism save Muslim women?”
Coincidence? Perhaps.
Dripping with irony? You betcha!
But the Guardian series included some very valuable viewpoints, many from Muslim women and Western feminists themselves. I blogged about it over at AltMuslimah.
Phyllis Chesler and Naomi Wolf have gotten themselves into a battle royale over…the veil.
And everyone seems to be concerned what two privileged non-Muslim white ladies think about this subject. Funny, considering Chesler picks fights all the time, and no one seemed to be interested in an actual debate she had with Dorchen Leidholdt a few months ago about Islam and women that was actually informed and somewhat rational.
What’s most interesting about this “debate” is that neither women have qualifications that make their opinions hold weight. Phyllis “Feminist Hawk” Chelser is a notorious Islamophobe, and Naomi’s experience with the veil came from putting on Pakistani clothing (“shalwar kameez”) in Morocco. Uh-huh.
Furthermore, neither of them seem particularly interested in what actual Muslim women who wear any type of hijab think. Natalia Antonova put it best:
The publicity must be pretty good for both Wolf and Chesler right about now … but if I was a Muslim woman watching all of this, I’d probably feel as though I was in a room full of people who were telling me to be quiet when the adults are talking.
I’d say that’s about right.
Last weekend, my baby turned two years old.
Muslimah Media Watch, the website that I founded in 2007, has now been around for two years. It feels like much longer, perhaps three years at least, because this blog has created so many wonderful things in my life, and the site itself has undergone so many changes.
In late August of 2007, I was the website’s sole contributor, writing all the content. It was easier then, because I was in graduate school, and found the website to be a welcome distraction from my thesis or a wonderful place to apply all the feminist theories I was learning. I had found no place for myself mainstream feminist media, and realized how easy it would be to carve out a space for myself in the blog world.
But it was more than that. I knew there were other women like me: Muslim, feminist, and seriously pissed off at being misrepresented. I knew that we might not have much else in common, but I created MMW for all of us.
On MMW’s one year anniversary, I had expanded: six or so contributors and a steady posting schedule.
This year, MMW boasts twice as many contributors and faithful readers. Oh, and a Twitter account and a Facebook page. Our contributors are from all over the globe, helping me to realize my vision of global MMW domination.
Maybe next year.
In the meantime, it is a both a pleasure and an honor to work with my contributors. They are smart, they are fierce, and they are adding their voices to a mounting refusal to be stereotyped or mis-characterized in media.
And I am so happy to be a part of it.
Cathy Lynn Grossman wrote about Ramazan for USA Today; she asks me about the nature of zakat (almsgiving):
Many Muslims choose to give to concerns close to home. Fatemeh Fakhraie, founder and editor of an international Muslim women’s website, Muslimah Media Watch, says, “I donate to my local food bank every Ramadan; some people give (zakat) to the mosque to distribute.”
I’m not very good at just-plain-shutting-up. So when Latoya Peterson of Racialicious asked me to chat with her about an email that was making the rounds and spreading some horrible misinformation about Muslim women and Shariah, I couldn’t help myself.
We get our debunking on at Jezebel—read up!
I have been accepted to the 2009-2010 American Muslim Civic Leaders Initiative program!
I am incredibly thrilled to be one of 23 participants for this “faith-based leadership training and civic engagement program”, and look forward to getting to know the other participants over the six month period.
The following image sums up my emotions upon receiving the acceptance email:
I want to thank Shahed Amanullah, a friend and AMCLI alumnus, and my brother–my acceptance to this program is a direct result of their efforts and encouragement.
Stay tuned for updates!
Readers and friends, I’m taking a little hiatus.
That’s a scarier word that I’d like to use, and maybe it’s not even completely accurate, but there it is. Hiatus. Like I’m a sitcom that didn’t quite get the right ratings and is getting pulled by the network, but they don’t want to say “canceled.”
But there’s nothing to fear! This is definitely not a cancellation. Think of this more as a season finale. I’ll be back Ugly Betty-style once the seasons roll around.
Currently, I’m working on some publishing stuff and trying to relocate. I’m also looking for a new full-time job, specifically in the editing biz. If you’ve got a job with editorial duties and/or the word “editor” in the title, drop me a note. Because there’s a good chance I’ll be interested!
Anyway, I’ll be focusing on those big life changes, and so I won’t be writing for all the websites I love so much. I’ll still be running MMW and helping out elsewhere when I can. Maybe that will free me up to write more here, too.
So this isn’t goodbye. It’s more of a…see you next season.
It’s my birthday today!
It’s been a long year, but a great one. I don’t know if 26 can ever live up to 25–in the last year, I’ve traveled, written, and conferenced my heart out, and I just can’t get enough!
Here’s hoping that this year is as good as the last, if not better!
Fatemeh Fakhraie 