As a feminist of Egyptian and Muslim descent, my life's work has been informed by the belief that religion and culture must never be used to justify the subjugation of women.
Mona EltahawyRead
Too often, when Muslim women speak out, some in our 'community' accuse us of 'making our men look bad' and of giving ammunition to right-wing Islamophobes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the challenges Muslim women face when voicing their opinions, often met with backlash for fear of negatively impacting their community's image.
Mona Eltahawy's quote sheds light on the societal pressures that Muslim women encounter when they choose to speak out on issues that matter to them. It underscores how some within their own communities may prioritize the perception of their men and the community over the women's right to express their thoughts, creating a conflict between the need for vocal advocacy and the fear of being labeled as a traitor or giving credence to anti-Muslim sentiments.
Themes
Muslim WomenCommunityExpressionAdvocacyPerception
In practice
Example use cases
During a panel on women's rights, a speaker may cite this quote to discuss the importance of female voices in marginalized communities.
More from Mona Eltahawy
All quotes βI'm no fan of Sarkozy, but I support a ban on face veils because they erase women from society and are promoted by an ultra-conservative ideology that equates piety with the disappearance of women.
Mona EltahawyRead
It is the harassers and assaulters who make us 'look bad,' not the women who have every right to expose crimes against them.
Mona EltahawyRead
I can write about my culture and religion because I am a product of both. Even when I'm accused of giving ammunition to the Islamophobic right, in the struggle between 'community' and 'women,' I always choose the women.
Mona EltahawyRead
I believe at the heart of any revolution for social justice and human dignity are consent and agency, the unequivocal belief that I own my body - not the state, not the church/mosque/temple, not the street and not the family.
Mona EltahawyRead
I will never ally with Islamophobes and racists. But in the choice between 'community' and Muslim women, I will always choose my sisters.
Mona EltahawyRead
Similar quotes
Women are not in love with me but with the picture of me on the screen. I am merely the canvas on which women paint their dreams.
Rudolph ValentinoRead
A stiff apology is a second insult... The injured party does not want to be compensated because he has been wronged; he wants to be healed because he has been hurt.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
There is a rhythm to the ending of a marriage just like the rhythm of a courtship-only backward. You try to start again but get into blaming over and over. Finally you are both worn out, exhausted, hopeless. Then lawyers are called in to pick clean the corpses. The death has occurred much earlier.
Erica JongRead
Help one another is part of the religion of our sisterhood.
Louisa May AlcottRead
While people are fairly young and the musical composition of their lives is still in its opening bars, they can go about writing it together and sharing motifs (the way Tomas and Sabina exchanged the motif of the bowler hat), but if they meet when they are older, like Franz and Sabina, their musical compositions are more or less complete, and every motif, every object, every word means something different to each of them.
Milan KunderaRead
Be polite to all, but intimate with few.
Thomas JeffersonRead