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Gendered Islamophobia and Muslim Women

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Islamophobia in America

Abstract

The concerns expressed in the quote above are substantial and they need to be considered for a fuller and more nuanced discussion of the issue of Islamophobia in America and beyond. Gender as a category of analysis should be but is often not (yet) an integral part of scholarly inquiry into many topics, among them the study of Islam, Muslims, and, as in this volume, Islamophobia. It should require no justification or explanation to state that everything we study and encounter is in fact gendered: marked by constructed categories of gender; socially and historically constructed and negotiated gender roles; and gendered positionality of researchers, journalists, and writers. The aim of this essay is to offer thoughts on the gendered nature of Islamophobia in several dimensions.

Why are the images of Muslims as oppressed relegated only to discussions of the female experience? Why do we assume that images of Muslims as terrorists reflect general stereotypes of Muslims as a whole, even though these assumptions are (by and large) being made mainly about Muslim men? What would it look like for the experiences of Muslim women (including the stereotypes that we come up against) to get equal airtime in conversations about “Muslim experiences,” rather than being limited primarily to the discussions about “Islam and women”? Or for us to acknowledge the terrorist stereotype as also a gendered image that mainly encompasses men?

—Krista Riley1

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Notes

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  1. Juliane Hammer
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Carl W. Ernst

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© 2013 Carl W. Ernst

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Hammer, J. (2013). Center Stage. In: Ernst, C.W. (eds) Islamophobia in America. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137290076_5

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