Exclusive Interview: Muslimah Media Watch
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008Fatemeh Fakhraie is editor in chief of Muslimah Media Watch, an online site that explores and reports on all issues relating to media representation of Muslim women. Hijabtrendz had the privilege of speaking with Fakhraie on what motivated her to start this much needed website.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?
I’m an Iranian-American Muslim woman with a passion for women’s issues.
What is Muslimah Media Watch and how did it start?
I’ve always been passionate about women’s issues, and became interested in Muslim and Middle Eastern women’s issues as politics changed in the U.S. I see Muslim and Middle Eastern women represented poorly, the same way a lot of other groups are represented, but I didn’t see anyone talking about it. Feminist magazines didn’t include us and race magazines didn’t include us, so I created a space where Muslim women (of any race) can critique and discuss how we’re represented in the media.
We aim to cover worldwide media, not just Western media, not just non-Muslim media, but everything. Because Muslim women can face what I call a “triple threat” (sexism, Islamophobia, and possibly racism), our critiques are often multi-faceted. It’s important to look at things from more than one angle. But we also aim to praise outlets that are representing Muslim women positively. Unfortunately, it happens a lot less than we’d like.
