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.

Boxed in: University ethnicity categories

For Racialicious, I write about UCLA’s current campaign to expand the ethnicity options for students of Middle Eastern descent:

Last March, several Middle Eastern UCLA student groups began a lobby to expand the University of California application ethnicity check boxes to include ethnicities such as Arab, Persian, Afghan, etc. It’s mind-boggling that the UC system would still not have up-to-date ethnicity representation on its applications, especially since California has high concentrations of West Asian diasporas in California (they don’t call it “Tehrangeles” for nothing).

I write for Slate’s ladyblog.

Slate’s ladyblog, Double X, features a piece from me today. In it, I discuss what happens when non-Muslim feminists get involved in Muslim women’s issues:

Non-Muslim feminists look at Muslim women through a lens that ignores the historical reality of colonialism, occupation, and the importance of religion in public life. When they do so, they sometimes put women at risk. For example, take either of the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. Several Western feminist groups joined the call for battle: “It is our duty to spread freedom! And we must liberate the women of [insert predominately Muslim country here]! Look at how their men treat them!” And voilà: Rudyard Kipling’s “White (Wo)Man’s Burden” is alive and well more than a century after it was written.

Chay Magazine’s newest issue is out!

And I’m in it! I discuss Mukhtar Mai’s recent marriage and its reception in the Pakistani press:

In early April, Mukhtar Mai, the Pakistani survivor of a tribal-ordered gang rape who prosecuted her rapists rather than accepting a tradition of suicide after rape, married her bodyguard, Nasir Abbas Gabol.

Scathing condemnations of the marriage came from Pakistani writers, women’s groups, and news outlets. While the circumstances under which she married are troubling, the way that Pakistani media has discussed the Mai and her marriage is equally troubling.

Chay magazine is a much-needed and frank magazine about sexuality in Pakistan, so give it a read!

Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby

Wajahat Ali kicks off his “Muslims Talking Sex” series on GOATMILK with a piece I wrote about virginity! Check it out:

Notice both definitions admit that not all women are born with hymens. Hymens are as varied as women themselves: some hymens never come to be, some are so delicate that they tear without cause, some are so stubborn they must be surgically removed for a woman to have intercourse or give birth.  Despite the fact that hymens are too varied and unreliable to serve as an indicator of virginity, this is precisely how they are used.


Shout-out!

Latoya Peterson of Racialicious writes an excellent missive for Slate’s Double X on feminism’s historical issues with race, and how they’re still tugging at the movement today:

Feminism framed the issues in a way that spoke to different women from all walks of life–then presented solutions that tended to favor women of a certain race and class.

She also gives me and MMW a nod for our hard work as Muslim feminists. Much love to Latoya!

Thoughts on Delara Darabi

When I found out that Delara Darabi had been executed on Friday, I felt defeat. I went through the motions, disseminating the news through Twitter, Facebook, and MMW.

I felt defeat again when I checked my news feeds the next day and noticed that few news outlets had broken the story. Outside of Twitter, very few in the blogosphere had reported on the story. In fact, outside of the Iranian blogosphere (which is ablaze with news of Darabi), MMW was the first one in the feminist blogosphere and one of the first in the Muslim blogosphere to report on Darabi’s execution. But instead of taking pride in my news breaking skills, I felt more defeat: where was everyone else who cared? Where were all the other reporters and bloggers? Why, after each passing hour, was there silence about Darabi? In the majority of the large news outlets, the story was not that Darabi had been executed, but that “human rights groups condemn” her execution.

I felt like something was over, and I was on the losing side of it.

But that’s what’s behind all this: Darabi’s execution, the lack of following governmental protocol (like informing her lawyer), the hurried burial without her parents’ notice or consent–this is all designed to make us go away. It’s designed to make us feel like we lost; it tells us to shuffle home and find something new to occupy us.

But according to DelaraDarabi’s Twitter account, her body may have showed signs of torture, and Iranian officials would not allow an independent examination before her burial. The suspicious circumstances around her execution and burial point to something larger that must be exposed.

Though Darabi has already been executed and buried, this is not over. Other Darabis exist, in prison cells and in courtrooms. Other women are mistreated, tortured, and beaten while in prison systems the world over, just like Darabi was. Whether she was the victim of judicial politics, a corrupt prison system, or fate, Darabi’s case stands as proof that we still have much work to do.

Getting off my Twitter high horse

Confession: I hate Twitter. I just don’t think people need to know what I’m doing/thinking every minute of the day. And I don’t see how it’s any better or more useful than Facebook status updates or text messaging.

I put MMW on it last week. For pageview reasons, I told myself.

And this week, I myself caved to the Twitter revolution.  I will of course be putting up links to stories and such, but I predict it’ll mostly be random annoyances and observations. Which, as a matter of fact, I am strangely enjoying sharing with you all. Won’t you join me?

Reflections on the MLT conference

Best. Weekend. Ever.

The cannoli I had in NYC. Yum!

The cannoli I had in NYC. Yum!

Despite the shuffling and confusion that goes along with conferences, this was by far the best one I’ve ever attended. The conference itself was a wonderful blend of different types of Muslims from differing political and religious viewpoints and endeavors. We talked about race, we talked about the future, and we talked about what Islam is for us.

I was dwarfed by the immensity of the work that many of the other MLTs are doing. Human rights, civil rights, women’s rights, film, the arts, etc. The words “incredible” just aren’t enough for these people.

Now, to the dishing and name-dropping! Forgive me if I leave out anyone—I met so many people this weekend that my mind can’t possibly remember everyone, and I have a feeling I didn’t get everyone’s contact information.

I finally met my AltMuslim/AltMuslimah pals Asma Uddin, Shahed Amanullah, al-Husein Madhany, Hussein Rashid, Zeba Iqbal, Haroon Moghul, Abbas Jaffer, and Jordan Robinson. Meeting these people, whom I literally correspond with every day, was marvelous. Putting faces and personalities to names always makes me happy. I also met some big names briefly: Mona El Tahawy, Reza Aslan, Irshad Manji, Kamran Pasha, Mazen Asbahi, and Shelina Zahra Janmohamed—names that I see on a regular basis, but haven’t previously made much contact with.

But I brushed the stars out of my eyes to hang with some incredible MLT people: Faisal Mirza, who is mobilizing Dutch Muslims online in an incredible way; Kauthar Umar, the director of New Muslim Cool, is doing incredible works in the arts; Famile Arslan, who is doing amazing human rights work; Zeenat Rahman, co-creator of The Hijabi Monologues; Asmaa Alariachi, who is bringing Muslim viewpoints to Dutch airways; Maria Ebrahimji, the editor of a forthcoming book about Muslim American women’s experiences (which you’ll hear more about later, because I’m in it) and an editorial producer for CNN; Sofia Latif, who works for Detroit’s Arab American community; Ayesha Mattu, a philanthropic consultant and an ethereal writer; Kamran Memon, who helps educate Muslims about their civil rights; the marvelous Azizah Kahera of Azizah magazine…and those are just a few of the amazing thinkers and doers I met this weekend.

And, after all the MLT madness was over, I got to meet more lovely faces! I met up with Racialicious peeps Latoya, Andrea Plaid, and Joseph Shahadi for a wonderful dinner (and a belated birthday hug for Andrea!) where we chatted about everything from race (duh) to the job market, and had a wonderful time. I regret only that the dinner was so short.

My time in NYC was amazing and has definitely shaped my outlook for the future. Watch for exciting changes as I attempt to live up to the MLT code.