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HOW MUSLIM REPRESENTATION LACKS IN MEDIA - A VERY NECESSARY THREAD
first things first we have to establish that representation DOES matter, you can’t just reply with “but why should a character’s religion matter?” you wouldn’t ask that if you were a religious minority. i deserve seeing myself represented in media just as you do.
growing up as a middle eastern muslim, the only “representation” i had was terrorists, but why did they even start making muslims terrorists in tv? way long ago muslims were always seen as “savages” and uncivilized, and our religion is always depicted as violent
but why is that? after the attacks on 9/11, after the attackers were revealed to have been al qaeda, people started thinking that all muslims all terrorists, the amount anti-muslim propaganda that spread that time was disgusting.
as a muslim i’d like to tell you that terrorists are NOT muslims. it doesn’t matter what they claim to be their religion, our religion does not tolerate hate nor war crimes.
now let’s see the “non terrorist” rep, muslim girl who hates her hijab, that trope is extremly harmful to our community. it backs the mindset that muslim women are “oppressed” by the hijab, when they aren’t istg it’s just a fucking scarf.
yes, there are women who are forced to wear hijab but that’s extremism. why does hollywood not represent normal muslims? not all of us are extremists after all
now let’s get to the “i fell in love with a white boy and three away my hijab and now i’m living a happy life” that’s not only harmful, but also a white savior narrative, hijab doesn’t k!ll muslim women for them to be “saved” from it, especially by the help of a white boy.
“muslim girl isn’t allowed to do whatever she wants bc her parents are overprotective” that’s literally a stereotype that makes us seem like we’re all misogynistic assholes who don’t think women should be able to do anything on their own, believe we’re not like that.
depicting muslims as “angry” and “uncivilized” is SUPER offensive and i don’t think i even have to explain that
now HOW do you write a muslim then? like any other fucking character, not a muslim who happens to be a character rather a character who happens to be muslim
the tropes i stated are NOT positive representation of our community, they are harmful stereotypes that put us at an even WORSE position than we already are in as a minority
