January 23, 2008

Teh Islamics are Bad

Yeah, I know, an old, tired subject (FGM). However, Bitch, Ph.D. has an interesting take on the bad reporting and treatment of Islam and Muslims by the New York Times (a lot of the comments on that site are good as well). Some excerpts:

I was instantly annoyed by this article in the NYT magazine over the weekend (actually, I was annoyed by it this morning, which is when I read it). The article, about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), had the following blurb on the front page: "Inside a female-circumcision ceremony for young Muslim girls."

Before even clicking on the link, I knew something was off. Why, after all, say that it's for young Muslim girls? Huh, that makes it sound like FGM is associated with Islam. Which, being educated in this shit, I know that it isn't.

Clicking through, I saw that the article focused on girls getting FGM in Indonesia. Which, fine, is a majority Muslim country. But maybe they mention in the article that FGM isn't part of Islam, and that there are plenty of non-Muslim populations where it is very prevalent, and Muslim populations where they don't do it at all?

Nope, that was nowhere in there. In fact, throughout the article it was made to appear as though it was the Islamic religious establishment which was responsible for the prevalence of the horrifying practice. It may be, in Indonesia. But it also helps to note that there are many rather conservative Muslim countries, like, say, Saudi Arabia, where FGM is basically unheard of. And non-Muslim populations where FGM is the norm, like many sub-Saharan African countries. Or places like my home country, Egypt, where everyone gets FGM, Muslim, Christian, or otherwise (although the practice is losing favor in urban areas).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Asalaamu alaikum.

Besides the points she's already mentioned, wow, to my understanding FGM isn't even THAT prevelent in Indonesia. Not nearly as prevelent as it is Sub-Saharan Africa where it is entirely a cultural practice.

Because there are also different types of female circumcision, it may be that what is practiced in one place isn't exactly FGM any more than male circumcison is mutilation (and that is now being heavily promoted in Africa as a way to help with the spread of AIDS). So for the West to yell "FGM" every time they hear of women being circumcised may not even be an accurate portrayal of what is going on and they just don't care to look at the differences - though certainly there is a lot of bad too.