Social Justice Event

         For my Social Justice Event, I attended the presentation “From Belly Dancers to Burqas: Media Representations of Muslim Women.” This presentation focused on what our opinions of Muslim women are from an outside standpoint, versus what they are like in reality. In the beginning of the presentation, everyone was asked to write down words that they felt described Muslim women, and then they read the list of words to all of us. Some of the words that were used were, “covered up, oppressed, religious.” We then discussed the different ways in which Muslim women are depicted, and it was addressed that Jasmine from the Movie Aladdin is a Muslim Princess, yet in the movie she is dressed more like a belly dancer. She isn’t wearing what we typically see when we think of Muslim women.  Muslim women often wear burqas or some sort of veil which hides their hair and eyes, or just their hair depending on their religion. There were quite a few images shown in the presentation, but the one that stood out the most to me was this one:

            When we were asked words that we all thought described Muslim women and the word "oppressed" came up, it's shown here that just because that's what those of us who aren't Muslim women feel, doesn't mean that that's the reality. Just because to some American's it may seem unusual to us that they cover so much of their bodies, it might seem just as unusual to them that we cover so little of ours. The veils that Muslim women wear is considered a sign of privilege, not a burden. It got me thinking about SCWAMP and how no matter if women wear too much clothing, or too little, it's still thought that we are doing it for the satisfaction of men. Muslim women are looked at as oppressed because they cover so much of their bodies, yet we live in a country where the total opposite is happening, and that's considered to also be for the satisfaction of men. The point of the presentation was to prove that the stereotypes of Muslim women aren't in fact true.  

           I connected this presentation of the video with Tim Wise as the speaker, "Between Barack and a Hard Place". In his speech. Tim Wise discusses how we unintentionally categorize black people, or any people who aren't like us. He uses the phrase "Some of my best friends are black" and says that many people claim they aren't racist based on this fact alone. He also tells about a story when he gets on an airplane and realizes the pilot is black, he felt a little bit nervous, and then he caught himself realizing how ridiculous it was. I thought this really related to the presentation because the whole point was saying how Muslim women are stereotyped. We might not even know any Muslim women, and we just put them in to the category of "oppressed" or "controlled by men". They get put in to these categories in peoples minds just because they aren't the same as what is considered "normal" here. I think it's an unintentional thing that some people do, just like what Tim Wise says.

               I also connected this article to "Aria", because in Aria Richard Rodriguez talks about coming to the United States, speaking no English, and having to adapt to the culture here. He talks about his entire journey from not accepting that he wanted to speak English, and then really only speaking English. His comparisons of what it felt like, reminds me of how I would likely feel if I moved to another country, and it was something way outside of my comfort zone. I think of what it must be like to be a Muslim woman coming to a country like this one where there aren't as many Muslim women. Muslim women are depicted in a certain way in the media which leads people who don't have an understanding of them to form stereotypes and judgments.

           Another reading that I connected this to was "Unlearning The Myths That Bind Us" . Linda Christensen argues in this article that we have been manipulated by children's media and advertising. Disney princess are portrayed in a certain way, and made to most likely be pretty, wealthy, and white. I made this connection because in the presentation we discussed Jasmine and how she is dressed in belly dancer clothes for the movie of "Aladdin" even though she is Muslim woman. It seems as if the way a Muslim woman who is a belly dancer was changed because "Aladdin" was directed at an American audience, and it seems like they picked her outfit based on what would appeal to Americans.