Showing posts tagged arab
search4zion: “I’m with the uprising of women in the Arab world because for 20 years I wasn’t allowed to feel the wind in my hair and my body.” 11 years and counting -_-  View high resolution

search4zion:

“I’m with the uprising of women in the Arab world because for 20 years I wasn’t allowed to feel the wind in my hair and my body.”

11 years and counting -_- 

(Reblogged from cynicalapathy)

tansheer.: pretty light-skinned African man,denying racism exists in the west...

tansheer:

pretty light-skinned African man,
denying racism exists in the west

how horrific it was
to watch him 
delude

but what am i anyway?
just a pathetic little girl
who understands nothing 
of this world

i have seen nothing in my time;
fired for adorning scarves of attempted
piety, spat at on the sidewalks i owned
via mortgage because of booming 
smoking towers, othered and questioned
in institutes of supposed “higher learning”,
deemed a radical and an oppressed
anti-feminist who was obviously
circumcised before she was even 
named, lest she ALLAH FORBID
desire sex before the age of 20
months, i have obviously seen
nothing:
i have been judged.

so,
how dare i discuss 
discrimination?

he told me to be “open-minded”,
(to the bigotry
and the rampant ignorance)

he said they never tell you
what to do, think, or say—

but they sure as hell can
alienate the fuck out of you
because you live in a way 
they cannot wrap their blessed
heads around

they do not understand you,
so
they condemn you

but i exaggerate,
naturally,

oh,
how horrific it was 
to watch him 
deny

i watched him walk away,
i heard him think “she’s a
close-minded woman who
never learned how to be 
free,
like
the
west”

oh,
how horrific it was
to watch him
confuse

(Reblogged from tansheer)
“
As Moallem argues, women have often been cast as flattened signifiers in a “semiotic war” between nationalisms and colonialisms, both of which are rooted in the system of patriarchy, as each of them fight to claim civilization. In this semiotic war, women as signifiers have operated as markers of civilization, whether it is in the sense of demonstrating national progress through modernization (e.g., educating or unveiling women as a symbol of modernization)
or in the sense of preserving national civilization (e.g., wearing the veil as a symbol of authentic, indigenous culture). Both of these modalities of civilization—the notion that modernization can civilize nations and peoples away from barbarism and the notion of grand, ancient civilizations as the “cradle” of modern civilization—operate in a gendered register, whether it is through civilization as written on women’s bodies, or the notion of women keeping and nurturing (cradling) civilization.
Amira Jarmakani - Imagining Arab Womanhood
“
As with many stereotypes of ethnic others, the predominant images of Arab women in U.S. popular culture lie at two opposite poles: Arab women are either represented as erotic, romanticized, magical, and sexualized, as with most images of belly dancer or harem girls, or they are portrayed as helpless, silent, secluded and male dominated as in representations of the veiled women or harem slaves.
Amira Jarmakani
almohamedg: Woman Anatomy How we see woman in Arab worldBy: Mohamed Mousa  View high resolution

almohamedg:

Woman Anatomy 
How we see woman in Arab world
By: Mohamed Mousa 

(Reblogged from almohamedg)

feministatheist:

 Cairo 678 tackles sexual harassment in the Arab World by telling the story of three women from different backgrounds but have all been sexually harassed. It was directed and written by Mohamed Diab.

Everyone needs to see this movie. It is outstanding. 

(Reblogged from feministatheist-deactivated2012)

A Border Passage - Leila Ahmed

In language that vividly evokes the lush summers of Cairo and the stark beauty of the Arabian desert, Leila Ahmed tells a moving tale of her Egyptian childhood growing up in a rich tradition of Islamic women and describes how she eventually came to terms with her identity as a feminist living in America.

As a young woman in Cairo in the 1940s and ’50s, Ahmed witnessed some of the major transformations of this century—the end of British colonialism, the creation of Israel, the rise of Arab nationalism, and the breakdown of Egypt’s once multireligious society. Amid the turmoil, she searched to define herself—and to see how the world defined her—as a woman, a Muslim, an Egyptian, and an Arab. In this memoir, she poignantly reflects upon issues of language, race, and nationality, while unveiling the hidden world of women’s Islam. Ahmed’s story will be an inspiration to anyone who has ever struggled to define their own cultural identity.

Highly recommended! I wish I could find more of her books. 

“
I am a staunch supporter of every woman’s right to wear the Hijab, just as I am a staunch supporter of every woman’s right to choose not to wear it.
Queen Rania of Jordan (via discessum)
(Reblogged from missbosnian)
“

Even now, however, women have almost no leadership roles in the various activists groups that formed out of the original protests that ousted Mr. Mubarak and so far women have fewer than 10 of the roughly 500 seats in Parliament. The electoral debates have featured scant mention of women’s issues — from the pervasiveness of genital cutting to legally sanctioned employment discrimination, despite official statistics showing that a third of Egyptian households depend on female earners.

“We have no feminist movement now,” said Hala Mustafa, editor of Democracy, a state-run journal.

Egypt’s Women Find Power Still Hinges on Men