Research and publications

The boy who cried "Witch!": Saudis investigate domestic workers for witchcraft

First published at Muslimah Media Watch Something decidedly medieval is in the air in Saudi Arabia. Fears of black magic and curses cast by Indonesian domestic helpers have spread across the country, and  Saudi employers increasingly feel the need to hire private investigators to check their domestic workers for suspicious behavior and evidence for witchcraft.… Continue reading The boy who cried "Witch!": Saudis investigate domestic workers for witchcraft

Intersectionality – the essay (part 2)

Intersectionality in practice: ethnic-Pakistani women of Bradford and the homogenising effects of multiculturalism Intersectional approaches can help locate Pakistani women’s position as survivors of gender-based violence in which overlapping social categories such as ethnicity, religion, generational differences, and multiculturalism render them invisible. Their’s is a situation compounded further by multiple material deprivation of inner city… Continue reading Intersectionality – the essay (part 2)

Published
Categorized as Feminism

Apologies (again)

The blogosphere awaits for no one. When one blogger drops out, another fills in an already saturated space. While the blogosphere advances ahead each day with enviable speed and continuity, I appear like I’ve been sat on my hands and silent like a grave on various important issues. I am sorry to readers, and I… Continue reading Apologies (again)

Paris

I’ll be away on a romantic getaway this week, where I might be tucking into my first steak tartare. See you next week!

Muslim feminists have too much to worry about already to think about homophobia

Once a week I meet with people studying gender in the Middle East and we talk about the assigned articles we’ve read during the week. Last week, it was about sexuality and homophobia. Emerging from our discussion on homosexuality rights in the Middle East (particularly in Lebanon and Palestine) is the question why many Muslim… Continue reading Muslim feminists have too much to worry about already to think about homophobia

The hidden penis: on censorship, the female gaze and the queer eye

Memory can sometimes be a strange beast. While thinking about this piece, I suddenly remembered an article that Cath Elliot wrote on the Bad Sex in Literature award two years ago under the title, Flaccid prose and the first comment the article provoked: flaccid is an unnecessary man-hating word to use in the title. I’m… Continue reading The hidden penis: on censorship, the female gaze and the queer eye

Book review: Women of colour and feminism

First published at Feminist Review. (Thanks Mandy!) If many postmodern feminists would have it, colour or“race” wouldn’t be of primary concern in theorising oppression; a woman would be seen as much more than her race, class, and sexuality. In other words, every woman’s experience of oppression is nuanced, different. And if the postmodern approach is… Continue reading Book review: Women of colour and feminism

Film review: Diagnosing Difference

This review also appears on Bitch Magazine’s latest issue No. 45, codenamed Art/See. As an undergraduate in genetics, I learned about “abnormal gender” from medical texts, which taught me that the line between what was female and what was male was clear; anything in between was a chromosomal disorder and an aberration in nature. The… Continue reading Film review: Diagnosing Difference