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Friday Links — December 5, 2008 December 5, 2008

Posted by Fatemeh in Links.
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  • Dr. A. Rashid Yassin Ebrahim justifies polygyny in rural areas for the Yemen Times. Did I mention that Dr. Ebrahim is a horticulturist?
  • Pakistan’s Daily Times reviews Women in Islam and the Middle East, edited by Ruth Roded.
  • Daily Star Egypt profiles Khaltet Fawzeya, an Egyptian film about a serial divorcer.
  • InsideDesi’s Seleena Lloyd doesn’t care much for Sarah Maple.

Last Week, Queen Rania of Jordan won YouTube’s Visionary Award for her YouTube campaign (which we covered last year). Here is a clip of her acceptance speech. Via Jezebel.

  • The Nation writes reviews Pardis Mahdavi’s new book, Passionate Uprisings: Iran’s Sexual Revolution.
  • The Australian National Imams Council condemned a recent study by the Islamic Women’s Welfare Council of Victoria that accused Muslim clerics of sanctioning domestic violence. More about the report here.
  • Iran’s Atousa Pourkashiyan has been awarded the Grandmaster title at the 38th Chess Olympiad in Germany.
  • The AccoLade gets coverage in Middle East Online.

Media Whores: The Egyptian Media’s Defamatory Coverage of the Murders of Heba & Nadine December 4, 2008

Posted by Ethar in News.
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5 comments

A week ago, Heba Akad, the daughter of famous Moroccan singer, Laila Ghofran, was brutally murdered while sleeping over at the house of one of her girlfriends.

Heba and Nadine. Image via Facebook group.

Heba and Nadine. Image via Facebook group.

Her girlfriend, Nadine Gamal, was also murdered and died from stab wounds and a slashed neck.

Heba, who was stabbed half a dozen times, called her husband as soon as the murderer left and told him what had happened. It took her husband two hours to drive over to the apartment at Sheikh Zayed, a city on the outskirts of Cairo, and by the time he got there, Nadine had died. Heba died in the operating room shortly after her husband got her to the hospital.

The deaths of the two 23-year-olds (pictured left), both college students, are tragic.

But what is more tragic is the way the Egyptian media dealt with the murders. Rather than answering (or attempting to answer) the 5W’s and H in their articles (Who, what, where, when, why, how), they decided to use the front page spots to create what I can only call sensationalist trash. Headlines such as “Hashish and opium and drugs” were a dime a dozen.

“If it bleeds, it leads.” So true.

The papers had a field day publishing rumors, manipulating facts, embellishing half-truths, and focusing on (what they believed were) the lives of the two women rather than their deaths.

To sum up what (the majority) of the press reported:

Nadine is one of Egypt’s elite, living it up in a sumptuous villa enclosed in one of Egypt’s many exclusive compounds. She lives alone, meaning she was loose and had no morals. She held huge parties with men coming and going at all hours. She and Heba were high on drugs and booze, and the man who killed them did so violently, meaning it was a crime of passion. It was so violent it couldn’t have been a robbery. The neighbors heard shouts, which means Nadine was arguing with a man—it must be a boyfriend. Oh, and also, she gave LE 40,000 to a boy at university, that must mean something. Perhaps trading in drugs?

Speculations, assumptions and downright lies.

Heba was not hung out to dry in the media, perhaps because of who she was, and perhaps because she didn’t commit the scandalous crime of living on her own. But once the papers found out that she had married her husband behind her parent’s backs, the press tore her to shreds. Who cares how she was murdered or who murdered her? Let’s write about how her mother must feel at this moment! Let’s focus on that!

Nadine’s father, the poor, distraught man, appeared on national TV during one of the nation’s most watched news programs, Al-Beit Beitak (This house is your house), to refute what had been said about his daughter.

The truth:

Nadine’s parents are middle class, and live in Saudi Arabia. She came to Egypt to study. She lives alone in an apartment, not a villa. Her father paid for the apartment over the space of three years, and had to wait another year before he had saved enough money to actually make it habitable. Nadine had been living with her grandparents in Giza, which was a two hour commute both to and from her college. Her grandfather was bedridden and her grandmother was also taking care of two other grandchildren, both of whom had Down’s Syndrome. Tired of the commute and of being an added burden on her grandmother, Nadine asked her father to live in the apartment nearer to her university.

Her dad called her a dozen times a day on a special Saudi line (to save money) to make sure she was okay. She held no parties. She was a “good girl.” The boy the papers said she gave LE 40,000 to was a boy who was thinking of proposing to her. No money was ever exchanged. And she wasn’t his girlfriend in the way the papers insinuated she was—the coroner told her dad that she was a virgin. Blood tests showed there was no drink or drugs in either of the girl’s systems and no drink or drugs were found in the apartment.

“My daughter has just been killed and I have to ask the coroner if she was a virgin to salvage her reputation,” said her father on TV as he struggled to hold back tears. “I had to cancel the funeral because of what the press has reported. Haram what they did. Publish lies. Nahsh a’rad alnas [An Arabic phrase that translates as "clawing the honor of people."] If any of it was true, then write it! But if it’s not, then don’t ruin the memory of an innocent girl who died a horrible death.”

Poster via Facebook group.

"To every newspaper who wronged Nadine and Heba. Your apology or the trash can is waiting for you." Poster via Facebook group.

A Facebook group with almost 2,000 members (another one has over 5,000 members) is asking newspapers for a public apology. Pictured right is one of three posters they’ve created saying: “To every newspaper who wronged Nadine and Heba. Your apology or the trash can is waiting for you.” At the bottom the text reads “An invitation to boycott yellow journalism.” Another poster reads “Nadine: To everlasting paradise. No condolences [accepted] from yellow journal[ists].”

I am totally disgusted. It’s press like this that gives us journalists a bad reputation. If these were any two girls who were murdered, I’d bet anything that not even a tenth of the press coverage would have been given to their murders. But since it was the daughter of a famous singer that was killed, it’s news. And not just any news, but front page news for an entire week.

Yesterday the killer, Mahmoud Abd Al-Hafeeth, was apprehended. He’s only 20 years old. He bought a knife with him and entered the apartment to rob the women, only he woke up Heba. She screamed, he stabbed her. Nadine woke up, ran after him, so he stabbed her. She ran to the kitchen to get a knife, so he stabbed her in the back and slaughtered her, then tried to decapitate her to make sure she was dead. He then ran away.

And the worst part:

He killed them for LE 400 ($70) and a mobile phone.

All the papers published that it turned out there was no crime of passion, only a burglary that went very wrong. But not one paper apologized for what they had previously published.

If you understand Arabic, you can watch the episode on Al-Beit Beitak which talks about the arrest of the murderer here, where the host asks the Journalist’s Syndicate to investigate what the papers wrote and penalize them.

If you don’t understand Arabic, you can watch this small clip of the show, if only to see how nonchalant the murderer is when talking about his crime (he’s in the blue sweater and talks at 2:12) and reenacting—at the actual murder scene—how he climbed up the pipes.

In lela wa ina ilayhee rage’oon (From God and to Him we return).

May God give them peace.

Thoughts on MANA conference December 3, 2008

Posted by Faith in Events.
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Before I begin. I just want to apologize for getting this post up late. Travelling always takes a lot out of me, especially when travelling on train.

This past weekend, I went to the second annual Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA) conference in Philadelphia. I did a lot of vending with my husband this time around, so I didn’t get a chance to go to as many workshops. However, I did manage to get into a couple. One thing that struck me about a couple of the workshops is that they both had “unveiling” in the title of workshops relating to women. One was actually a play about Muslim women (which I attended and will discuss in more detail later) and the other was titled “Unveiling The Truth” (which I did not attend). The latter workshop was for sisters only and in the program booklet, the summary is as follows: “All the Questions you’ve ever had about relationships, your rights and your body and were too afraid to ask.” I was surprised at the references to “unveiling” since they carry such Orientalist overtones. I know that “unveiling” could simply refer to getting to the essence of something but considering male fantasies about undressing Muslim women, “unveiling” Muslim women always carries a lot of connotations.

The play I saw “Unveiled: the Life of Muslim Women” relied heavily on this metaphor. The play wasn’t listed in the program booklet, but was announced on loudspeakers. As I walked to the room where the play was being held, I saw a sign advertising it and read in the description that it was about women in hijab. At this moment I became disappointed because I felt that once again, Muslim women were being described as women who cover only. I decided to go anyway. I thought, “well, maybe the writers thought ‘women in hijab need to be portrayed in more nuanced ways.’” As I went in, the play was already in session and two women were in the middle of sketch. One woman was speaking about not being oppressed because she wears hijab. The next woman in the sketch spoke what appeared to be a poem that had all of the cliched defenses of hijab: how hijab makes her feel protected and lets men know her worth, how she doesn’t have to worry about her body image or succumb to eating disorders because of her hijab, etc. The eating disorder part really disappointed me, because there are Muslimahs with eating disorders and Muslimahs who deal with body image issues. Also, I just felt like, “Can’t we defend women’s right to wear hijab without accusing non-Muslims of being shallow, body-obsessesed maniacs and without making it seem that hijab makes you into super woman!?”

While that sketch left me a bit sour, I did like some others. One sketch was based on a story by Mohja Kahf and featured a Syrian woman who has just immigrated to the U.S. and longs for home. She finds bit of home in the most unlikely of people: a group of hippie women and one man who embrace all religions, burn incense, and eat hummus. It was humorous, it was personal, and by the end of the sketch, I felt good, too. Another sketch that I found poignant was a sketch called “Secrets,” where four women speak about having to keep silent about domestic violence, the stress of being a stay-at-home mom, and feelings about being a co-wife. You could feel the pain of women who felt that they had no outlet for their grievances. I especially liked this sketch because it focused on how Muslim women are often forced to not to speak on legitimate concerns and forced to maintain a facade while bottling up emotional pain.

The rest of the conference seemed to run smoothly. However, there did seem to be more gender segregation at this conference than at last year’s conference. For instance, some of the security team tried to keep men and women segregated outside the ballroom where the jumu’ah salat was made. Additionally, a partition was set up in the main prayer area on the second day of the conference, even though it wasn’t there on the first day. I’m not sure why this occurred. I would imagine that some complaints were made to MANA by men and women who weren’t comfortable with a partition not being set up. However, it did make me feel uncomfortable and I will write to MANA expressing my concern on this issue.

Nafsu buas: the politics of imagined lust in Malaysia December 2, 2008

Posted by Fatemeh in Culture/Society.
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This post was written by Cycads and originally appeared on her blog.

‘Animalistic lust’ (nafsu buas) is a common spice in Malay tales of adulterous wives, transgender paramours, and homosexual men and women. ‘Animalistic’ or ‘buas‘ here is a blanket term for all that is unbridled and transgressive. Though derived from the Arabic word to mean ’soul’, ‘nafsu‘ is often accompanied with pejorative connotations, and it is used a lot by the Malay media to demonise sexual minorities in Malaysia. Often scapegoated for everything that is immoral in society by the country’s moral vanguards, either elected into office or not, being a sexual minority is becoming more difficult and there are people who cheer for their living hell.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that the recent highly-publicised fatwa against tomboys exposes the powers-that-be’s obsession with the bodily control of Muslim women. While there are many, like myself, who only see the absurdity of the fatwa, proponents of this edict believe that curbing female homosexuality plays a crucial part in an ever-expanding list of ’solutions’ to relieve Malaysia of its fear of disintegrating family units due to rising divorce rates and single parent households, pre-marital sex, and general moral apocalypse.

Not long ago between the 1970s and ’80s, an unprecedented mass migration of young women from rural areas to the industrial towns of Malaysia lead to what can be described as a socio-cultural shock for many. Instead of being represented as role models of economic independence, many young Malay women, particularly factory girls or ‘Minah Karan‘ as they were popularly known, were accused of loose morals and sexual promiscuity and were systematically to blame for the social breakdown of an increasingly modernised Malaysia. Until the mid-1980s, factory women in headscarves (tudung) were rare and associated with a secular, urbanised lifestyle that sharply contrasted against the more modestly dressed, university-educated women who were inspired by the Islamic resurgence at the time.

The allegedly hyper-westernised, morally-dubious behaviour of factory women was defined in the Malaysian mass media during this period as a public issue requiring intervention on the part of religious and political authorities. And so like the fatwa against assumed female homosexuality, the denigration of the Minah Karan is based on fiction more than fact.

The National Fatwa Council of Malaysia, however, formulate fatwas by twisting nebulous assumptions and lack of evidence into solid preventive measures. In a tour de force interview with the director-general of the Malaysian Department of Islamic Development (JAKIM), Datuk Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abd Aziz, we will (perhaps) understand their well-thought out and researched rationale behind this tomboy fatwa. Below is an excerpt:

Q: Is there any proof that if a woman dresses as a man, she will become a lesbian? What is the link between clothes and lesbianism?

A: Perhaps this is something that is different between the Islamic perspective and non-Islamic perspective.
Our approach is based on a rule of the maxim in Islamic jurisprudence – that we prevent the opportunity for some thing bad to happen. We believe this is a good approach in preventing something bad which is forseeable, based on research and other issues. This principle is used when determining a fatwa.

Back to the issue of clothes. We have said from the beginning that dressing is not the sole factor (in lesbianism). It is more about behaviour. Don’t forget, a pengkid might be very feminine, but she is a pengkid because of her behaviour and sexual desires.

Q: So, a pengkid has a sexual connotation?

A: Yes. This is what we are worried about. What is meant by pengkid is a person who is inclined to be attracted to someone of the same sex. It starts with the clothes and the behaviour. What we are most worried about is that this person might go to the extreme level. That is why we feel it is safer for each person to strive to follow or abide by his or her fitrah.

A woman would be more damai (at peace) if she had a man as a companion.

Q: The problem is, when it comes to the level of society, the understanding of this fatwa might be different. For instance, at the moment, a lot of men’s clothes have become unisex for women. So, for instance, on the days where I am going to a particularly rough place, I might wear a shirt and pants, and I might not wear earrings or bright lipstick. If someone sees me at that time, what would be the conclusion that person might have on my sexual preference?

A: That is a different issue. We are currently talking about normal conditions. If we talk about situations like you mentioned, then that’s the same as a male policeman going undercover as a woman.

Q: The niat (intention) of the fatwa is one thing, but its application is another. What is going to happen if someone who has heard of this fatwa starts harrassing a woman whom he feels is dressed or behaving like a man?

A: Let’s forget about the possibility of harassment by men.

Q: We can’t.

A: Alright. But what if the woman who behaves like a man attracts the attention of other women. Doesn’t that also present a threat of harassment?

Q: If that’s the rationale, then I’m better off dressed as a man. For, if I were to dress as a man, I would be harassed by fewer women than I would be by men, were I to be dressed as a woman.

A: (laughs) Actually, the danger to you would then be that you would be harassed by men, and there would be a new harasser (women). But a pengkid is not just about dressing. Dressing is just one of the factors. A woman might have a husband, wears a baju kurung and tudung. But if her behaviour and desire is towards other women, this is where the woman starts to neglect her husband or even leaves him for her woman companion.

*Sigh*. Read the rest here.

“It’s interesting to have a burqa” December 1, 2008

Posted by Krista in Merchandise/Commodities, News.
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The Western fascination with the burqa has crept up again in a new and mind-boggling way. A few months ago, I wrote about the Charming Burka, an art piece that used Bluetooth technology to take people “behind the burqa” by showing them a photo of the woman underneath.

Now? Just in time for the Christmas season, you can buy little decorative burqas for your wine bottles.

One of the wine-bottle burqas. Image via Chicago Tribune.

One of the wine-bottle burqas. Image via Kim Barker from the Chicago Tribune.

Yes, I just used the words “burqa” and “wine” in the same sentence. But that’s actually the less bizarre part of this article, found in last Friday’s Chicago Tribune.

The story is about the Women of Hope project, an organisation that employs Afghan women to sew crafts to sell overseas. It was started by an American woman, Betsy Beamon, who moved to Afghanistan after September 11 to try to support women there. According to the article, the “project has helped employ about 1,000 women — 100 main seamstresses who employ other women.”

At least from the tone of the article (which may well be taking things out of context), it appears that the crafts that these women make are tailored to what foreigners want to buy, which is where it gets weird. Along with the wine bottle burqas, you can buy Taliban dolls, or aprons for your wine bottle with “Afghanistan” stitched on them. There are also some more conventional dolls and Christmas decorations.

Am I alone in finding it weird that mini-burqas are now becoming some kind of collector’s item? That now that Western women have supposedly had a hand in “liberating” Afghan women, they can now have tiny symbols of their oppression as decorations? As with the Charming Burka project, the fear, fascination, and desire that so many Westerners seem to attach to the idea of the “veil” is playing out in a really bizarre and disconcerting way. The Taliban dolls are equally disconcerting. I really hope that there aren’t scenes being created in American homes that combine the Taliban dolls with the burqa-clad wine bottles in a reenactment of imagined stories of Afghanistan.

If the concept of the mini-burqas was coming from Afghan women themselves, wanting to reconfigure a symbol of their oppression and use it subversively, that would be one thing; however, according to the article, this craft is being done in response to the demand from foreigners, who apparently have “odd tastes.” In fact, according to the headlines, these small burqas are now supposed to symbolise hope for these women. What is especially telling is the quote from one of the women involved in the project:

“I don’t know why the foreigners like them,” said Marzia, 30 [...] “Maybe they like them for their children, maybe for themselves. Maybe they like them because it’s interesting to have a burqa.”

This idea, that it is “interesting” to have a burqa, seems a far cry from the experiences of Afghan women described in the article, who probably would not describe burqas in nearly the same way. I worry about the people who may be taking this “exotic” new decoration way our of context, and putting it on the dining room table, just in time for the holidays.

Readers, what’s your take on this?

Let the Brass Crescent Voting Begin! November 30, 2008

Posted by Fatemeh in Uncategorized.
3 comments

The Brass Crescent Awards final round of voting is now open! This year’s nominations boast a lot of great and thoughtful blogs, so the awards should be interesting.

Unfortunately, we didn’t win a nomination for Best Female Blog…

But we are nominated for Best Group Blog! :D

Voting ends December 19th, so please show us some love! You can vote here.

Updates 11.21.08 November 28, 2008

Posted by Fatemeh in Uncategorized.
3 comments

It look my lazy ass awhile, but I’ve updated our Voices of Muslim Women pages.

If you are a Muslim woman who has a blog or a website that isn’t on our list, please let us know so we can link up! Email us at muslimahmediawatch@gmail.com or post your blog in the comments section.

Friday Links — November 28, 2008 November 28, 2008

Posted by Fatemeh in Links.
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  • And speaking of Malaysia, the Sisters in Islam of Malaysia is pushing back against a fatwa by Malaysian clerics against tomboys. More from Malaysia Today.
  • Azal Faiz Ahmed of Oakland, California, is missing. May Allah keep her safe.
  • A rape case in Detroit falls apart after a 16-year-old girls’ testimony.
  • PC Magazine rates the best Islamic websites for women. Unfortunately, we’re not on it. Anyway, I think they meant best Arabic websites for women. Funny that, eh? Apparently the magazine thinks those two adjectives are synonymous.
  • Hijab Style gives information on how to help a sister do some demographic research so that she can open her own business.
  • The Hijablog posts pictures from Kuala Lumpur’s annual Islamic Fashion Festival.
  • A man who abused his wife and daughter has been arrested.
  • An Israeli human rights group released a tape of an Israeli soldier head-butting a Palestinian woman.
  • From The Guardian’s Comment is free, two viewpoints on polygyny.
  • Al Jazeera reports that several women died in suicide blasts in Baghdad. May Allah give them peace.
  • A woman and her mother spent the night in jail after attempting to report her being sexually harassed by a police captain. Via Global Online Voices.
  • Maybe Malaysia would like this yoga instead.
  • Middle East Online reports that a U.N. expert believes that “Iraqi women subjected to violence.” Uh, where has this expert been all this time?
  • Menassat interviews Sihem Bensedrine, the editor-in-chief of Tunisian website Kalima.
  • A case currently under review in the U.S. may clarify legal standing for women seeking sanctuary from female genital cutting.
  • altmuslim’s Rafia Zakaria writes a great piece about the misogyny inherent in sexualized Western pop culture and its connections to violence against women in Pakistan.
  • The Khadija bint Khuwailid Center held a workshop for women, entitled “Employees’ Rights and Responsibilities,” to inform them of their rights.
  • MidEast Youth interviews one of the men behind a new campaign for domestic worker’s rights in the Middle East.
  • Afghan women make “mini-burqas” for wine bottles as part of the Women of Hope Project.
  • Eboo Patel envisions an American Muslim woman going through a political process similar to the one Obama went through.

Rock On: Saudi Arabia’s All-Girl Rock Band November 27, 2008

Posted by Ethar in Culture/Society, Music/Radio.
Tags: , ,
16 comments

The internet is abuzz with talk about an all new rock band, The Accolade. Nothing special, you would think, until you realize that not only are the members all women, but all Saudi women.

The band's official logo. Image via groups' MySpace page.

The band's offical logo. Image via their facebook group.

On the day the band made the front page of The New York Times (NYT), their ‘friends’ on their MySpace page went from 17 to 584. Today, only four days later, they have almost 1,000 friends, over 130,000 profile views, and comments from people in Italy, Spain, Korea, Sweden, Mexico, Germany and the USA (to name a few) saluting them and wishing them luck. That’s in addition to almost 1,000 fans on their Facebook page.

What can I say? It’s the magic of the media.

The band is made up of four college students: 21-year-old Dina (the guitarist) and her 19-year-old sister Dareen (bass guitarist), along with Lamia (vocals) and Amjad (keyboard). Here’s a short interview with them.

In the NYT article, Dina says the name of the band is based on one of her favorite paintings, The Accolade, by Edmund Blair Leighton (an English pre-Raphaelite painter) which “depicts a long-haired noblewoman knighting a young warrior with a sword.” (“I liked the painting because it shows a woman who is satisfied with a man,” said Dina).*

Their logo—according to their Facebook page—(pictured above):

“Is the simplified form of the Accolade painting. We express it by drawing the main elements in the painting: the Crown to express [the] princess and the sword and helmet to express [the] knight.”

Image via AccoLade's MySpace page.
Image via Accolade’s MySpace page.

Their music—also according to their Facebook page—is:

“Inspired from paintings that tell a story of certain situations in our lives. It’s a blend of art and music.”

Their first single, Pinocchio, is available on their MySpace page and has been played over 50,000 times—15,000 in the last three days alone. Its inspiration was a painting by Dina (pictured right), which, also according to their Facebook page:

“Is about liars and how a person can struggle from these lies and get hurt. If liars had a sign like Pinocchio things would [have] been different…less tragic and painless if we know how to recognize a Pinocchio.”

Consequently, the song talks about a failed relationship with a liar (aka Pinocchio). I recommend you all go listen to it—it’s in English and here are the lyrics.

I’m no music buff, but I like it, as do hundreds of others.

(The song has even been featured in an quasi-ad):

But is the song great enough to warrant a front page story in the NYT? Of course not. As one blogger writes:

“While hardly a huge force of revolution in itself, the existence of such a band is encouraging and another testament to the potential of music as a force for social change. [Pinocchio] reminds me of Lacuna Coil - a piano introduction that soon turns heavy, and slightly accented vocals. Nothing extraordinary, but created under pretty extraordinary circumstances.”

The media, of course, has picked up on this story not because of the music but because the members are Saudi Arabian women “rebelling” against the “oppressive” Saudi culture.

One commentator on the Accolade MySpace page wrote: “Your music sounds like freedom.” One article elaborates:

“We […] are seriously bowled over by this kind of dedication to the rock. Because music really is a kind of freedom. And, like my mama’s daddy always warned her, it’s a pretty good form of rebellion, too.”

Another commentator, Matt, noted:

“Boy, we’re hearing more about you in the political news than in the music news here in Florida. Let’s hope they start focusing on the music sooner rather than later.”

But what Matt doesn’t realize is that it’s the so-called political dimension that makes the story newsworthy. The media has chosen to frame the story, not it terms of the music, but in terms of what it means to have a Saudi Arabian women rock group. Whitney, another commentator, tells the group:

“Two days ago you were just rockers; today you are an internationally famous symbol for reform in the Arab world. Nice work.”

The fact that there is a rock group in Saudi Arabia isn’t anything new. According to this article in Arab News, there are approximately 60 bands in Saudi Arabia, some of which actually hold concerts, though as Kamal Khalil, the guitarist and vocalist in a heavy metal band named Deathless Anguish tells the paper: “sometimes we’re forced to cancel our concerts by order of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.”

There is no law in Saudi Arabia against playing rock music or performing publicly, which is interesting considering the Saudi Society of Culture and Arts refuses to recognize rock/ heavy metal bands. This, in turn, means the Ministry of Culture and Information forbids the sale of those bands’ albums in the country. But basically, there is music in Saudi Arabia, and there are rock bands, although not without their own hurdles to overcome. But female Saudi rock bands?

One Saudi commentator writes:

“These girls are brave, but I guarantee you that a lot of other girls have been rocking out too, even 10, 20 years ago. I love this new generation, they don’t take no for an answer and they make the internet work for them. That IS revolution. [...] Music has always been a source of support and inspiration for Saudi youth, whether it’s Amro Diab or Iron Maiden; there is a lot of monotony to break up. [...] These days satellites beam everything in to the country, you’d be surprised how typical girls like these are. What’s new and important is that they’re putting themselves out there as a band and want to play mixed gender gigs. Ultimately the members of the Accolade are like any other alternative minded girls. I don’t find this a feminist issue at all, just human. Which Saudis are you know, human beings.”

The New York Times article was fair, with Robert Worth writing about the band without going into a tirade about Saudi society’s treatment of women compared to ’superior’ Western society, though of course he had to slide in:

“In a country where women are not allowed to drive and rarely appear in public without their faces covered, the band is very different.”

But I believe he had to include this, since it is because of Saudi society’s treatment of women that the existence of the band is newsworthy. I do take issue with the fact though that Worth painted the four women as “iconoclasts” and aberrations of Saudi society for the way they dress and their body piercings.

He explains that Dina and Dareen do not cover their faces, “wear their [uncovered] hair teased into thick manes” and have their abayas (black gown worn over clothes) opened to show their jeans and T-shirts. So far, they sound like the bulk of young women I’ve seen in Jeddah.

As for piercings—which he takes care to point out, telling us that Lamia has piercings on her left eyebrow and beneath her bottom lip while Dina and Dareen have pierced eyebrows—well, they’ve actually become very popular in Jeddah, with “young Saudi men and women […] increasingly getting their bodies tattooed and pierced.”

I get what Worth is trying to do—show that the women are unique, but does the way they dress, rather than the way they think, really make them so? Are they really so different from the hundreds of Saudi women involved in quote unquote “progressive” activities that break with Saudi customs and traditions?

As a side point, with regards to dress, one Facebook comment I thought was really insightful by Dale from Washington, D.C. said:

“Hi Dina, Dareen, Lamia, and Amjad. Great song. You women rock. I wonder if perhaps you are starting to realize just how much power you have? I believe you can help people, both in the west and in your own country, to understand many things. Even perhaps to help us both better understand Islam. I think folks in both places may be just as likely to misunderstand you.

Have you considered how powerful the image a veiled woman with a guitar could be? That may not be your style, and you might not imagine this as an image you want to convey, but I think it could convey things you might want to say. Like respect for Islam, and perhaps even some respect for cultural traditions that present huge challenges to you. It would surprise folks and make them think. People want to see photos of you performing. Would you consider doing that in abayas and veils? Could performing veiled actually HIGHLIGHT an obstacle that cultural traditions can impose, WITHOUT showing any endorsement or disrespect? If so, it might be great. I can’t get the image out of my head.”

Dan, along with many other bloggers, asked for photos of the group performing, with one blogger saying:

“The weirdest thing for me about the AccoLade’s Myspace page is that there are no pictures of the musicians: talk about culture shock.”

The idea of musicians needing photos to project a certain image and what it means if they don’t is interesting to think about.

But I digress. Back to Worth.

One thing I really liked about Worth’s article is him not attributing the women’s actions to them being raised abroad or having “tasted Western life” (though he does mention he met them at Starbucks)—pointing out that they are “middle class and have never left the country,” and quoting Dina as saying that change from within the society is part of the reason they are able to do this now.

Other articles, however, of course demonize Saudi culture and introduce Orientalist stereotypes about Saudi women. In an Entertainment Weekly article we are told:

“For the AccoLade to rock, they have to exist in the shadows, rehearsing in secret, shrouding their face-piercings under traditional garb, and shying away from being photographed because they live in a country where women aren’t allowed to drive cars or walk outside without their faces covered, let alone play the Devil’s Music from the West.”

In CIOL News (spelling and grammer mistakes their own):

“They live in a country the females have no right to expose their face, leave alone raise their voice in public. In a country where a woman has to think twice before driving a car, it is unimaginable to set up a music band.”

Likewise, many blog posts (and there are a ton of them) are ignorant/ insulting/ exaggerative. Take this one:

“Don’t know if Rock ‘n Roll can change the world, but there’s a rockin’ chick band in Saudi Arabia […] They are brave young women because most chicks still can’t go outside without throwing a tent over their head. Can you say religious fanaticism? Can you say most of the hijackers came from Saudi Arabia? Rock on Saudi Chicklets! And don’t get caught playing hide the salami, or you’ll be learning the Middle Eastern version of Dylan’s “Everybody Must Get Stoned.”"

And another:

“An all girl metal band is awesome enough, but an all girl metal band that could be executed for revealing their identities (!) takes awesome and ties it to a rocket and fires it directly into the sun resulting in a supernova of awesomeness the world has yet to match.”

Blog posts all over the internet are varied in their take on the band.

In any case, kudos to Accolade. It’ll be very interesting to watch them and see what they do, not only in terms of their music, but in their inevitable role as representatives of the “new” Saudi Muslim woman.

*The Accolade, or “dubbing,” was a ceremony performed in the Middle Ages to confer knighthood

Iran unveils new car for women November 26, 2008

Posted by Faith in Culture/Society, News, Technology.
Tags: , , ,
7 comments
Iranian woman in Car

Iranian woman in car. Image via AFP.

As soon as I saw the headline, I have to admit I was thinking “huh?” and “what!” I’m not too keen on products geared towards women because usually these products rely heavily on stereotypes. Unfortunately, this new feminine car does just that.

It’s suppose to come out in a range of “feminine colors” and “interior designs” because we are just so keen on how our car looks. I guess those guys in my neighborhood who spend thousands of dollars on rims and getting their car waxed didn’t get the memo that they’re not suppose to care how their cars look. Oh, and those women I see in big, black Escalades with spinning rims really didn’t get the memo that they’re suppose to be in more “feminine” cars, but I digress.

To make things even better, the new cars will feature “automatic transmission, parking and navigation aids and a jack for changing tyres without getting grease on your chador.” Again, I wonder why this is special to women. I’m sure plenty of men in Iran would love to drive an automatic, since they’re much easier to drive. My husband and most American men aren’t buying automatics simply for their wives to drive, but to drive themselves since they’re less of a hassle than stick shifts. Same for the navigation aids. As for not getting grease on a chador, who wants to get grease on their clothes? I honestly don’t understand why these products aren’t marketed to both genders, since they would seem to benefit both men and women.

While that was annoying, the part of the article that “grinds my gears” was the BBC’s little tirade about gender in Iranian society. After describing the features of the car the author writes, “If that suggests a degree of sexist stereotyping in Iranian society, it is, just possibly, true.” Yes, definitely. But then we start to get in this little slippery slope of self righteousness with the author saying things like “Iranian men have yet to absorb fully the message of equality” or “‘As a result, the report concludes, Iran’s new generation of working women “are obliged to play the role of a superwoman to resolve their contradictions in handling all tasks.’ It says such women ‘have become increasingly frustrated with their life’”.

Now I don’t disagree with these assertions, but I did wonder why they were brought up in an article about a car for women and why the author was acting like these issues were exclusive to Iranian women. American women have to contend with this issue as well. American women spend more time doing household chores than their husbands. British working women also have to contend with juggling it all while getting little help from men. So this is an issue that affects women all around the globe.

Next time, I think the BBC should just stick to the story.

This was also posted at Muslimnista.