ok hi thread about arab women and also arab lgbt people

1) sum literature i recommend is from @monaeltahawy (specifically "why do they hate us" and "headscarves and hymens"). Any jubilee/BuzzFeed/cut style vid with millennial/gen-z American Muslims is super watered down &garbage for learning about our experiences in my opinion

2) ok basically the problem goes like this: arab misogyny exists. However, white conservatives blow it way out of proportion and use it to justify hating/killing us. SO, allies and str8 arabs/arab men retaliate too hard the other way and pretend like there is NO sexism/homophobia

3) this is harmful bc it erases our experiences w oppression. its frustrating to have lived thru misogyny/homophobia unique to ur culture and then read some stupid thinkpiece thats like "haha arab women/lgbt arabs are ALL EMPOWERED and FREE" just to appease racists

4) people often cite tunisia& lebonan as arab "progressive" safe havens. listen im from tunisia and it is still deeply sexist+misogynistic. We do not live in some kind of utopian wonderland. Don't send the message to arab men/str8 arabs that theyre doing a good job. They're not.

5) hijab: STOP PRETENDING LIKE ITS UNIVERSALLY EMPOWERING/UNIVERSALLY DEGRADING. recognize that some women are FORCED to wear it and also recognize that it can be a CHOICE for others. its just a piece of cloth: it has no morality. The people that interact w it have morality tho.

6) side note anyone (including other muslim women) who says islam "mandates" the hijab is completely misinformed. you can interpret the Qur'an in a way that gives u personal conviction to wear hijab but there is NO VERSE mandating it. period.

7) arab women/lgbt arabs sometimes are part of the problem: we dont want to be perceived as victims by our western peers bc its super patronizing and gross so sometimes we pretend like everything is fine. It's not. It's really really not.

7.1) yes arab society was way different before colonization but arab men/str8 arabs need to stop using this as an excuse & take some accountability ALSO stop saying there are "bigger issues" in the arab world than sexism/homophobia.

8) However, the west isnt a safe haven either and there are BIG problems in the west that arent found in our home countries & vice versa. I'm not trying to paint the arab world as some backwards place. But painting it as utopia doesn't help anyone either

9) i guess my final point is that people struggle to understand that its OKAY to recognize the problems in the arab world ur not racist and its possible to do so without generalizing/stereotyping to individuals.

10) its scary to say this because theres a chance some dumbass social conservative is going to be like HAHA I TOLD U !!!! ARABS ARE SEXIST AND DANGEROUS !!!!! if thats your take away youre illiterate & completely missed my point. Sit down and shut up.

11) idk i guess moral of the story it would be gr8 if arab women/lgbt could just openly honestly talk about their experiences without feeling pressured to be a spokesperson/salesperson for the morality of their entire culture.

12) for nonarab allies: i guess just recognize that just like how western women experience sexism they arent "victims" of western culture neither are arab women/lgbt. recognize that we are super diverse in the amount and type of oppressions we face even by country.

13) also not all arab men/str8 arabs are bad lol i know i flamed them a lil in this thread but some of yall are amazing (the rest of u: shape up)