How feminists have let down Muslim women and girls

[beastlyslumber]

This is a brilliant conversation with Yasmine Mohammed, talking about how liberal feminism has betrayed women and girls, what the wearing of hijab really means for girls, how women are being enslaved and tortured by Sharia law. And why feminists need to start caring.

open.spotify.com/episode/4yNPedvPGE2lZ4uPtYViot

That's the spotify link. I'll link it on apple music as well: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e208-yasmine-mohammed-discusses-how-western-liberals/id1437447846?i=1000587384528

Hopefully one of those links will work for you!

Yasmine Mohammed, author of Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam , shares her story of growing up in a fundamentalist Islamic home in Canada. At 13, when she tried to report the abuse she suffered at the hands of her step-father, she was told by a judge “you come from a different culture, and that’s how your family chooses to discipline you, so we just have to accept that.”

And here lies the inherent contradiction in the way in which the West views fundamentalist Islam versus other fundamentalist religions, and turns a blind eye to the abuse and suffering of millions of girls and women. She and Bridget discuss how alienating that is, the message those girls receive is “we don’t care about you, you are ‘other.'”

They cover the escalation of rape culture, sexual harassment, the problems with celebrating the hijab, the indoctrination of attitudes towards girls and women in Muslim culture, and being called Islamophobic for criticizing a tool and system of oppression. They bond over shared traumatic experiences and discuss their belief that if you can use your own trauma to help others, it has not happened in vain. If you only ever listen to one episode of Walk-Ins Welcome, this is the episode.

Thanks - I will have a listen.

I see a lot of similarities in the statement above with how a certain other, more minor atm, ‘religion’ is being handled in western cultures.

Judges are encouraged to adopt the culture, chastising victims in court for not paying the correct lip service to the gender identity of those who’ve assaulted them.

The Police regularly turn a blind eye to assaults that happen in front of them, and will not follow up on threats - even death threats - if the perp is from the protected caste.

Oh it’s so hard! The screaming of ‘Islamophobia’ and the very real chance of actual reprisals tends to put people off ‘saying anything’. I think it’s a bit unfair to single out feminists, it’s a widespread attitude ( although I do find the feminist apologists pretty hard to stomach).

I agree completely that we should enforce our own laws amongst our own citizens, and IMHO anyone residing here for more than a holiday. But I can hear the shouts of ‘racist’ now.

Thank you for linking, I’ll have a listen

I think it’s a bit unfair to single out feminists, it’s a widespread attitude

Ah well, it's me singling out feminists, because I want to highlight the relevance to FWR. Yasmine talks about 'liberals' more generally, and includes some strands of feminism within that.

I agree completely that we should enforce our own laws amongst our own citizens, and IMHO anyone residing here for more than a holiday. But I can hear the shouts of ‘racist’ now.

Yes. I don't know if you saw the very long thread discussing the influx of males from Muslim countries into the UK? We went all around the houses with that one! It comes up in this podcast too - the idea that we need to start celebrating and defending our freedom.

I agree we should be telling Muslim women what hijab REALLY means and how oppresed they REALLY are by their religion. I mean let's educate poor feeble minded women, they just don't see how stupid they are being.

I wish you'd used 'liberal feminists' in the thread title.

No need for that tone, nobody has been called stupid. Besides which the person speaking, Yasmine Mohammed, is muslim.

Surely it includes socialist feminists and intersectional feminists too?

Maybe just listen to the podcast and then later we can get into the tone policing and purity spiralling because I used the wrong word.

Or instead, we could talk over the voices of Muslim women and girls and tell them their pain doesn't matter. Try listening to the podcast. Yasmine Mohammed is a Muslim - or I guess she's now considered an apostate. Why would you take the side of the people who hate and want to destroy Yasmine??? Mind blowing.

So what if she is a Muslim (if she is)? There are over billion of muslim women! She does not speak for all of us whether she is a Muslim or not.
Can I speak for all Muslim women and say we all like wearing hijab? I certainly cannot. Therefore, Jasmine cannot tell me what wearing hijab means to me.

Thank you beastlyslumber, this is an important issue and it's long past due.

All strands of feminism have blind spots in my view, and this is a hugely damaging one.

We need to, we have always needed to, stand in solidarity with women across the globe in fighting for our rights. We cannot abandon Muslim women and girls under the guise of religious tolerance and liberalism.

OP are you saying that over a billion of Muslim women are oppressed and that we all hate wearing the hijab? Mind blowing! Let's listen to all muslim women, not only the ones you deem worthy because they are agreeing with your views! In fact, let's listen to and hear all women!!!!

My take on this (after many years of activism and being friends with individuals from Islamic cultures) is that I'm prepared to walk alongside Islamic women and advocate for them/with them when I can but this includes advocating against Islamaphobia, for women who wear the hijab and for those who don't. It's messy.

If you're not prepared to listen to the discussion @Emmmie then you don't know what you're talking about.

Either listen to the conversation and then make your contributions, or don't listen and don't contribute. Your choice.

For example there's this.

religionandpolitics.org/2022/11/16/a-mosque-of-her-own/

A very different view!

The true nature of any ideology is in how it treats its dissidents, and not necessarily those that comply with its rules and regulations.

We need to, we have always needed to, stand in solidarity with women across the globe in fighting for our rights. We cannot abandon Muslim women and girls under the guise of religious tolerance and liberalism.

This is my feeling, too. We can't be scared of being called names. There are women like Maryam Namazie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Sarah Haider, Yasmine Mohammed who have been talking about this for years and begging feminists to listen. These women are in fear for their lives - in no doubt that speaking against Islam makes them targets. For too long we've just abandoned them to their fate because we don't want to become targets ourselves. Understandable, but not acceptable.

This isn't Islamophobia. Please listen to what Yasmine Mohammed is actually saying.

This isn't Islamophobia. Please listen to what Yasmine Mohammed is actually saying.

FFS. I never said it was. I said that I speak out against it. And my hijab-wearing friends are often front-and-centre of it.

Have you listened to the podcast @YetAnotherSpartacus? I'd be interested to know specifically what you agree and disagree with in what YM says. It's quite long, so take your time.

Ah, apologies. I thought you were insinuating that it was somehow Islamophobic to post this or to criticise Islam. I'm being a bit sensitive, perhaps.

Anyway, I hope you'll listen and share your thoughts when you've done so.

Happy to listen but it will be one more voice among many over many years to me. I have women friends who describe themselves as oppressed by Islam and I stand by them too. I have others who are not but who are spat at by white male thugs for wearing the hijab and I stand by them too.

Thanks for sharing the podcast. I shall have a listen.

There's a good video by Sarah Haider too. I found it quite balanced.