I don’t know why I have such a great interest in news stories about Muslim women in this country (the UK), since I am neither Muslim nor a woman, and I do not live in an area with a high population of Muslims. I think what I like most is the stories that are written by Muslim women, rather than just written about them by someone else (often male, often nominal Church-of-England*).
Very often the “about” stories serve to reinforce stereotypes and prejudices even when claiming to do the opposite. The “by” stories, unsurprisingly, present Muslim women in Britain as people, individuals and very much a part of the broader society.
The following is a story from yesterday’s newspaper about new martial arts classes in London.
In a grim part of east London a powerful Somalian teen is giving me a beating while a friend eggs her on – they are both clearly enjoying themselves. As the blows rain down, I curse myself for responding to the advert for this unusual self-defence class at a Newham sports centre.
…
Ninjabi is a play on the word hijabis – women who wear hijab. This six-week self-defence course for Muslim women was set up by a community group, Islamic Circles, in response to a growing demand for women-only classes and has attracted attention throughout the Muslim world. There are plans for follow-up courses, most titled in homage to Bruce Lee: Return of the Ninjabi, Way of the Ninjabi and (more Newham than Hong Kong) Ninjabi vs Minicabi.
…
The instructor, Dee Terret, talks us cheerfully through knee strikes to the groin and how to respond if an attacker grabs your headscarf – essentially, give it up. (She also advises that, on this basis, Velcro is a better bet than safety pins). At the end of the two-hour session we line up, cadet-style, put the moves together in sequence and shout in sync. It feels pretty good.
…
A straw poll I took of young British women wearing niqab and hijab in Brick Lane suggests the market for these classes could be huge. Most of the women were interested in taking them up, with only three exceptions. One said, “I don’t need classes, I’d just give anyone who tries to give me any nonsense a good wallop – that’s the way to deal with that!” A woman in niqab pushing a buggy had already done taekwondo so didn’t feel the need. And the third, a 20-year-old student, had seven years of Shotokan karate under her purple belt – her main concern was simply to find a more advanced class.
I don’t think I have anything to add to the original article, nor do I think I’m qualified to do so. I’m definitely interested in others’ thoughts, though.
* “nominal Church of England” is the phrase I learned studying theology, for the assumed religious grouping of a person born in England, regardless of whether they ever attended church.
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I’ll be very honest with you, I didn’t even get through the rest of your post after I read this:
Imagine me, a Black woman, seeking something to occupy my time and finding, for the most part, diversions produced by White men. Sometimes, thats all that I find. And here, you believe it to be so curious that you find something written from a minority point-of-view and wonder how you can find it so interesting?
Cute.
Angel: I think it’s a fairly common belief, at least among us white people, that a human being tends to be most interested in stories about human beings from their own racial group and social class, most of the time. Sometimes it is based in overt racism (when it’s a white person holding that preference) but I tend to think most of the time it’s also being attracted to the familiar.
Some of us are very aware that Black people do not see enough of themselves in the mainstream media. But I bet you want to see more of yourselves, right? You would find it more interesting, I suppose? I would, if I were in your shoes. Hell, I’m Cajun and I gave up long ago on seeing anything in the MSM that didn’t portray me as a stereotype or a culinary style. Not that that in any way compares to what Black people go through, but there you go.
I’ve been similarly interested in Islam in the past several weeks, to the point of seriously asking myself whether I wanted to revert, and I don’t get it either, because I’ve been Neopagan since 1993 and had told myself I would never practice an Abrahamic faith again. I would like to think my wondering why I’m interested in the faith and the people stems from simple curiosity about my own motivations and not from privilege or ill will. Maybe that isn’t realistic given the pervasiveness of racism, I don’t know.
(Note to lurkers: Someone might point out there are white reverts and white born-Muslims in the West, but the majority are not, and most white non-Muslims think of Muslims as “brown people,” so to say that Islamophobia is based in racism is as accurate as saying that rape is based in sexism even though a comparatively few men are raped every year.)
Can I say that I think “Ninjabi” is an awesome word?
It could also be a Punjabi ninja. Since I am Punjabi, and want to be a ninja when I grow up, I shall refer to myself as Ninjabi from now on.
I’m w/ Prarielily on “Ninjabi” being an awesome word. Thanks for the post, SnowdropExplodes.
Snowdrop, I’ll get behind Angel here: stop apologizing for your interests, sympathies, choices of topic. Stop apologizing for yourself, as though it were cause for suspicion on a person’s character to indicate interest in a subject outside of his or her direct experience.
We all have written, read, and found interest in a number of topics outside our direct experience. We have read about issues affecting Muslim women on this blog many times. I do not know how many of us are Muslim women. In fact, I have no idea what the general racial/ethnic/gender composition of Feministe’s readership is, and I don’t care, because I do not ever find myself wondering what sort of people would be interested in these topics.
The answer is that we all are, because we are human and we attempt to be empathetic; we understand that our own experiences are not comprehensive and realize that it is in fact necessary and desirable to cultivate an interest in other people.
Why do you continue to apologize for doing that which we do every single day, as though it were shameful? Why do you seem to be struggling through embarrassment at addressing us as feminists and presumably as a feminist yourself? You’re here. We’re reading. No one is apologizing.
Anyway, all that being said, thank you for sharing this article. I’m hopping on the “ninjabi” bandwagon for that is a most excellent word.
Cool story. Also loving Ninjabi as a word. Kind of shows the demise of the stereotype of the meek Muslim woman and of Muslims as having no sense of humor about the culture in one swoop.
Angel:
I think Dana has more-or-less summed it up – I generally go looking for things that have something to say to me, personally: not out of any rejection of “other”, just because that’s the easiest to “get” (I do think it is important to broaden my horizons as well, though).
Also, I know myself quite well, and when it comes to “personal interest” stories I know that I tend to have little patience for them unless they have something that relates directly to my personal experience. This is why my avid reading of British Muslim women’s real-life stories stands out as being atypical for me.
As for the decision to include the remark, that was just me covering my arse so it didn’t seem like I was trying to speak for a community to which I do not belong.
Rilee:
I don’t think I’ve been apologising for anything, although possibly I have been a little bit wary of spouting my mouth off on subjects where others clearly know more than me. That’s not being apologetic, more simply trying to avoid inserting both feet into my mouth at the same time! Also, I’m keyed into a lot of English sensibilities that often get stereotyped overseas as being very apologetic (I’d like to think that I’ve only taken on board those that I find useful, but we all end up with other baggage from our lives). Chalk that one up to cultural differences!
Anyway, here are a few thoughts on why I have an interest in stories about British Muslim women:
1. Because they’re as much a part of the rich and vibrant culture of my homeland as I or anyone else living here is (whatever certain racist elements would like us to believe).
2. Because so far the articles I’ve read have reflected that vibrant character and they are just good fun to read, regardless of their topic
3. Because a few years ago while at university I was friends with a number of Muslim women on the same course as me
4. I like stories about people confounding stereotypes and staying true to themselves, which tends to characterise the “by” stories.
hmm, that’s quite a lot of reasons I seem to have missed before…
***note to self: think first, THEN post!
I’m sorry, Snowdrop, but does this mean that your response to my suggestion–that your interest or anyone else’s interest in the situations of non-white, non-male people does not need to be qualified, excused, or explained (because such an interest should be a matter of basic human empathy, and here we can all assume that everyone is interested because we all practice basic human empathy)–is in fact a list of reasons qualifying, excusing, and explaining to us your interest in stories concerning Muslim women, from which list one reason is that such articles are a fun read?
Rilee:
My response to your suggestion was only the first paragraph, the list of reasons was something I processed afterwards and seemed to be a related issue.
However, I am a little wary of claiming “empathy” with people not of my own grouping, because I have seen criticism of others for attempting precisely that, and have even had people weigh into me once or twice for it, too. Which is why I choose to qualify anything I say on other people’s subjects unless I am very confident of my background knowledge. I know you’re claiming that empathy on shared status as human beings that can be assumed, but my experience does not feel as though that is upheld – to be honest this feels like a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” type of criticism. I am sure if I hadn’t put all my qualifiers, somebody would have responded asking where I was coming from with it. I hope this makes it clearer just why I felt my original comments were necessary.
As for the list of reasons, that was an afterthought seeing as I had raised the issue in the first place. It may or may not have come through in my posts, but I like to know why I’m doing stuff, and maybe it’s a little narcissistic of me, but I like to think others might be interested in those reasons as well, and particularly in my reasons for posting a blog about something.
Now, here’s something to consider: what are the origins of reasons I gave? Reason one is about a principle of equality applied to everyone – could that be an expression of basic human empathy? Reason 2 (of which you made particular mention as though it were somehow the least acceptable) is about communication – I have found the articles to be vibrant and good to read, meaning they are good communication. Surely that, also, is about feeling some level of empathy with the writer? Reason 3 is about my personal life experience, so that’s the odd one out. Reason 4 is about people being themselves, and that is very much about identifying with those people – empathy again.
In other words, I think we speak slightly different languages, you and I, but are not that far apart.
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