If you are Muslim.

[Masher]

Hopefully this doesn't come across as insensitive. It is to do with the photograph of the lady in the brown headscarf walking across Westminster Bridge after the attack. I thought she looked terrified, distraught, and very, very shaken. The photographer has just confirmed this.

One thing that crossed my mind I think, is that if I was muslim and caught up in such an act I would really fear for my safety. I would be scared the people there may turn against me, I would be scared that I would be accused of being involved, and I would be scared the security services may do both of these things too.

It got me thinking about how I would feel in everyday life in Britain. I just wondered whether you all feel safe here, or if it changes through various regions and depends on where you are?

If you don't feel safe, or there are times when you don't feel safe, what can I do that would make it better? I live in London if that helps.

I know Rufus, harsh and terrifying. Wobble.

Same back at ya grommitts night all.

Night Hanna

I would agree with the previous poster who said that that there was plenty of anti-irish feeling in the UK in the 80s and 90s, which definitely contradicts any memes going around Facebook. As a 12 year old in the early 90s coming from London to Dublin i was taken aside from my parents and subjected to a fairly aggressive body search. My father commented as we walked away that we knew exactly why that had happened. That's an incredibly mild story. I have friends who lived in the UK at that time who were subject to awful abuse so I think this 'we were lovely to Irish people even though...' Is bs, although I think the people posting it have no idea, in the nicest possible way.

Nollaig16 - that is bloody awful and they should have been ashamed

Yellow - you've asked a valid question about Saudi. The law in Saudi requires non Muslim women to wear an Abaya which is a black long dress , not the hijab which is the head covering . Only the Muslim women are expected to wear the hijab . To be honest , it's an entirely cultural based law as the prophet didn't dictate any 'uniform' for women to be worn . The hijab can be any colour or style, if you choose to wear it ! I hope this answers your question .

Funny how a thread started to support women in hijab has turned into a hijab bashing thread . Muslim women in hijab are a vulnerable minority and we live with a fear and cautiousness most women don't have to endure . Not a fear and cautiousness of our husbands and fathers ( so please save your sanctimonious pity for our suffering , Hanna) but of the wider public and how they might retaliate especially after a 'muslim' has murdered people . To start talking about the nasty things Muslim women do and say means you don't want to contribute positively to a thread that was meant to be supportive and you're here to stir up hatred, as if there isn't enough of that already.

Sherazade - that's a bit harsh.

Criticism is not the same as trying to stir up racial hatred. That's a serious allegation which normally involves a person being reported to the police. Are you saying that what Hanna said could be construed as that?

Forgive me if I am misunderstanding you in some way (I quite possibly am, as I have a banging headache and my powers of rational thought appear to have left my brain).

I would go so far as to say thst Hanna was stirring up hatred with her "As a matter of fact..." statement. It was a matter of nothing hut her own fucked up opinion of Muslim women which she felt compelled to share with everyone else. To what end?

as you said, she was expressing her own opinion, whether it is valid or not. there doesn't have to be a wider agenda in that.

Her opinion that 'many Muslim women ' think western women are whoreish is hate stirring , yes .
She then goes on to explain that she doesn't actually know these women in person, it's something she's read in books. I could ask for a book list but it won't exist .

stirring is one thing, but to say something is inciting hatred is, like I said, a serious allegation.

I don't really care tbh. This thread was made in defence of Muslim women, not to blame them.

fair enough. I think Muslim women get a hard time.

It's pretty hilarious that a thread about Muslim women has become a thread about how not to offend white, privileged women.
Ok I give up. It's Mother's Day and my toddler is unravelling loo roll, I need to beg force my pre teen to shower , and the ten year old is eating all the cake . Surprise surprise , doing things normal women do on a Sunday !

Love it or hate it, the veil is a hot potato! hence the passionate views on this thread. There are some interesting views in this book written by a Muslim woman who used to wear the veil but no longer does.
www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/12/headscarves-and-hymens-why-the-middle-east-needs-a-sexual-revolution-mona-eltahawy-review

Amazing how white people think being accused of racism is so much worse than being a victim of it

Who thinks that then? Being a victim of racism is always far worse than being accused of it. Thanks for thinking that white people have some kind of hive mind though. It really supports anti-racism arguments

Re the white, privileged women comment. I understand the concept of white privilege - we aren't subject to racism as much, because of the colour of our skin.

Being white, however, is not a choice. It does not make it ok to offend someone because they were born white. It's not about not offending white, privileged women, it's about not offending anyone.

Grommit, your heart is in the right place but you quite simply do not understand the shit that minorities have to put up with. Why do their issues have to be checked and ticked by the white woman before being considered worthy of discussion.

You don't see the wider agenda to hanna's post because you haven't lived this shit or experienced this shit. In your world, if a muslim woman can experience racism, then so can a white woman. Yes, its bad, but it is not the same thing. Why can the white woman not tolerate a thread about muslim women and their experiences?she could have started her own thread and got pkenty of support. No she derailed and started making it about herself, her feelings and what she thought of muslim women. Telling everyone what muslim women thing if western women. Muslim women came on here saying they dont think like that, but oh no, the western white woman is always right. she was out of order, yet you cannot see that.

Yes, views like hers incite hatred. Post 9/11, muslims have had to be very careful and had to apologise for other people's crimes, just so that they don't get attacked for being, well, a muslim!

Muslim women know what incitement looks like, they have lived it very publicly since 9/11. The woman in a brown hijab is a perfect example.

Westminster Bridge. Yesterday. 4pm.

Sums up how I personally feel about solidarity, mutual respect and tolerance.

Symbolic actions can make a deep impact, but calling out RL Islamophobia, each and every time, far more so. (For me, that's low-level, "casual" stuff as much as more obviously vile incidents).

I personally feel it's important for me, as a white, female, non-Muslim, never having to deal with regular religious/ racial prejudice myself, to take that stand...makes it harder, then, for the perpetrators to justify their actions, IMO. That alone is a sad reflection of our times.

A lot of thought-provoking contributions here, from various viewpoints. Thank you for sharing.

Kitebite - obviously the western white woman is not always right though I still don't think they're a homogeneous mass.

Apologies as well, I didn't realise that the thread was about anything other than the poor lass in the OP.

Who are you referring to when you say why can the "white woman not tolerate?...." ALL white women?

Of course racism to white women is not as bad, but I don't think anyone pretended it was, did they?

Agree completely Thalia.

Oh and Kite, I am, quite visibly, a member of a minority subject to discrimination on a daily basis. I get it daily. So thanks for saying I have no idea.

Kitebite - apologies, I have just reread the OP, and given how it is worded, it isn't the thread to discuss a non-Muslim woman's experiences.

You see Sherazade, you're falling into the all too common trap of stifling debate with your 'racial hatred stirring' comment. This is a comment used by people when anyone tries to debate valid points. Usually because the person knows how emotive a subject like this is, so if things are being said that they don't like, they know it closes discussion down by using these phrases. It's a shame, as there are some interesting comments on here from both sides, and I would hate to see it degenerate into a 'all Muslim women are wronged, and all white women are privileged and racist' debate.