Journalists sign open debate letter to denounce JK Rowling and co.'s free speech pledge

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[–]vitunrotta 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Yep, Yasmine Mohammed speaks about this quite a lot actually. Gotta love that woman. I was expecting to see her name on that list also, but then again, I don't know how the original article was shared around (it's likely she wasn't aware of its existence?). She has fangirled both JKR and Ayaan Hirsi Ali though, regarding the JKR tweet debacle, which is not surprising. :)

I would recommend anyone who calls themselves a feminist to e.g. read her Twitter. Libfems have done a lot of harmful things, one of them is the total denial of religious violence (be it physical or mental). I will never forgive them for that. (P.S. She is Canadian though :))

Edit: grammar

[–]Anna_Nym 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

She's Canadian? I wonder why I thought she was Australian.

I follow Thomas Chatterton Williams, and he said that signatories were asked based on recommendations. I presume Sarah Haider is familiar with Yasmine Mohammed, but I wouldn't be surprised if few other signatories are.

I'm going to try not to doxx myself here, but MENA women's experiences with hijab was tangentially related to academic work that I've done. Libfem oversimplifcations of hijab are so frustrating. I think I have a lot of remedial feminist reading to do to catch up on the various influential theorists, but it seems to me that there is also a distinction between actual academic feminists and Internet-based feminists. A lot of the influential voices now are bloggers who went big, and I don't think they understand what they write about in any depth. It seems like to them it's as simple as Muslims are a marginalized population in the post-9-11 US + right-wing people don't like seeing hijabis = hijab is always and unambiguously good.

Whereas I would say that hijab is a piece of cloth that has no inherent morality, and you have to examine it in context. A woman freely choosing to wear hijab as a personal expression of her faith is different from a woman freely choosing to wear hijab to broadcast her cultural identity which is also different from a woman being forced by her family to wear hijab which is also different from a woman being forced by state violence to wear hijab. An individual woman's choice also doesn't exist in isolation from the broader cultural messaging of the action. These things are nuanced and don't reduce down to Bad or Good.

[–]vitunrotta 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Canada... Australia... I mean, they are so close to each other, who wouldn't get a bit confused?! ;D

The question of hijab is forever one of my "I will die on this hill" ones. Having grown up and indoctrinated in a religion - as a woman - you don't GET to think. You don't get to question. You don't get to have a myriad of opinions regarding a simple garment. You just fucking wear it and if you don't... Well, you'll find out. Women who never even had to consider somebody forcing them to wear anything will not, in my humble opinion, ever understand the anguish and struggles and the obvious internalized misogyny you'll have to go through. To me the "well it's a choice!" sounds a lot like "well they should have just listened to the cop!". (I don't know where you're from by the way so if that example was nonsensical, let me know.)

And sure, there are women who are very pro-hijab and actually think it is the biggest form of freedom ever! Because well, when the indoctrination starts early enough... what else are you supposed to think.

I am of the mind that Western feminists as a whole have failed to understand what is happening to our sisters elsewhere because... ooh GASP! someone might think feminists are islamophobes.

Discussions need to happen. That doesn't mean degrading anyone or making fun of them or mocking them. It just means a discussion. A discourse. Even a debate. But it can happen. I am quite tired of feminists literally noping out of any conversation regarding religion(s) that are generally not-so-damn-white. Questioning things, having debates, having different opinions... none of those things are violence. They are necessary for us to move forward. And they are also essential for our feminist sisters out there.

[–]Anna_Nym 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I figured out why I thought she was Australian. I first heard of her in the context of a debate between Roxanne Gay and Christina Hoff Summers that took place in Australia (when she called out Roxanne Gay for saying Saudi feminists were doing fine on their own and didn't need Western feminists to support them despite several high-profile Saudi feminists having recently been jailed for their activism around driving. Wow, that was a long sentence but I don't see a good way to break it up).