Category Archives: YouTube Watch

Gender Takes a Licking

Ethics, Gender and Sexuality, Luke R. E. Publican, Pakistan, YouTube Watch

One thing that ethical reflection by most Muslims, Christians and feminists can agree upon is that female sexuality in advertising is degrading to women, turning them into objects for the male gaze. There is no question that sex sells and not just on Madison Avenue. A recent video commercial for Wall’s Magnum chocolate bar, starring Pakistani model Neha Ahmed, is as suggestive as any MTV video. Indeed Bollywood rivals Hollywood in depicting the female body as a focus of attraction. But exploitation is not only from companies out to make a buck by subliminally changing the letter “b” to the letter “f.” Sometimes those sincere individuals who think they are defending women’s honor end up reinforcing the stereotype. Such is the case for the image pictured above and posted on an Islamic website. There are many reasons why a woman would choose to wear hijab, but in this metaphor their gender takes a licking. The issue is not the wrapping, whether hijab or sticky paper, but the fact that flies will go for the candy no matter what you try to do. Does it occur to the creator of this image that the problem is not with candy, which is tasteful in the right context, but the nuisance of unzipped flies. Someone go find the fly swatter, please.

Luke R. E. Publican

The Habib and Remy Show

Gender and Sexuality, Humor and Satire, Music and Dance, Terrorism Issue, YouTube Watch

Many things are not funny, but most things can be poked fun at. Certainly the ongoing violence, destruction and daily killing in Iraq is not funny. But when we stop belonging to Homo ludens as a species, we lose yet another part of our humanity. There is a lot of prejudice against Arabs, Iranians, and Muslims in general. This is no more funny to most Arabs, Iranians, and Muslims than Black Sambo is to African Americans or Chief Wahoo to Native Americans. But there are times when laughing at yourself is a way of dealing with tragedy. In the real world Arabs are not a bunch of bearded, hook-nosed, camel-smelling harem masters, so making fun of the stereotype can at times be like streaking naked in front of a boring commencement speaker. Such raw moments are provided by Habib, an Iraqi, and Remy, a Virginian, in a YouTube rap video called A-R-A-B: the Rap. Continue reading The Habib and Remy Show →

Hijab or Hellfire

Gender and Sexuality, Qur'an, YouTube Watch

Having grown up in a fundamentalist Baptist church in which even bobbed hair was condemned by some as Satanic, I find it ironic that conservative Muslims resort to the image of the Shaytan to moderate the moral choice of Muslim women’s fashion. There is a slick “Garden of Eden” approach at play in a recent Youtube video featured on Mujahideen Ryder. Check it out.

As for that venal sin of bobbed hair, here is John R. Rice, the spiritual founder of Bob Jones University, holding forth like a salafi mullah:

Long hair, the glory of a woman

“Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering.” (1 Cor. 11:11-15)

Let no woman be discouraged because God insists that she shall take a place of subjection and wear the mark of humility and femininity on her head. It is true that the man was created first and then woman created second as a helpmeet, as we were told in verses 8 and 9 above. But dear woman, be not grieved. Long hair is not a shameful mark. Rather, it is a mark of glory. God did not mean for the man to be without the woman (v. 11). Both are necessary. Each one is a complement for the other. Each is dependent upon the other. And God’s way is the fitting and beautiful and happy way. Continue reading Hijab or Hellfire →

We are not that

Music and Dance, Pakistan, Terrorism Issue, YouTube Watch

It has been said that music is able to soothe the savage soul, so perhaps it can help reduce the bias that assume Muslim souls are innately savage. A recent video, called Yeh Hum Naheem, with several Pakistani pop stars, has been released and can be seen on YouTube.

Here is the description from the website:

Yeh Hum Naheen has become a truly unprecedented musical movement. Featuring the vocal talents of some of Pakistans biggest music artists, including Haroon, Ali Haider, Ali Zafar, Shufqat, Strings, Shuja Haider and Hadiqa Kiani, uniting to sing out the message the world needs to hear.

Written by Ali Moeen, Pakistans foremost lyricist, with music composed by Shuja Haider, its the central message of the song that has compelled so many people to become involved. It is a message of reconciliation, a message of peace and a message of truth. Capturing the imagination of people across the board, Yeh Hum Naheen has given a voice to the silent majority, those in the Muslim world who have for too long been mis-represented. These are the people who although not appearing on our television screens are saddened and shocked at the high-jacking of Islam by terrorists, and want to stand up and shout “This is Not Us”. The song is the brainchild of Waseem Mahmood, author and media consultant, who took inspiration for the project from his children. They were tired at the way a minority of misguided young people were vehemently putting forward a message of radicalization and terrorism which was at odds with what the majority of Muslims believe. It is time to re-address the imbalance, and from the smallest child to the oldest person, Yeh Hum Naheen seeks to give a voice to the voiceless.

The Bad Business of Badal

Film and Video, Gender and Sexuality, Palestine, YouTube Watch

A Palestinian filmmaker, Ibtisam Mara’ana, has recently made a film on badal (exchange) marriage from her own personal experience. Although in Arabic, it has English subtitles. To watch a five-minute clip from the film, click here.

Director Ibstisam Mara’ana was predestined, like most of her relatives, to be married off through the badal, a kind of package deal in which a brother and sister from one family marry a sister and brother from another. This marriage exchange is mainly aimed at providing less marriageable daughters with a husband. Mara’ana was told that she was too old and dark, and too ugly due to a scar on her hand, and that without the godsend of the badal, she would fall by the wayside. She refused to cooperate. Instead, she made this award-winning documentary to show how women oppress women. Continue reading The Bad Business of Badal →

Huckabilly Lays an Egg, Flunks Geography

Iraq War, Jordan, Luke R. E. Publican, YouTube Watch

In last night’s GOP presidential debate, hosted by MSNBC, the Huckabilly former governor of Arkansas laid an egg and he can hardly blame Chuck Norris in absentia for such a wisecrack. Asked if the war in Iraq has been worth all the blood shed, Huckabilly defended Bush’s rationale by comparing the lack of evidence in the massive search for Iraqi WMDs to an Easter Egg hunt. A colorful comment for the Late Show, but one that ultimately leaves egg on his face. Asked later about his all-encompassing religious conservatism, the Huckabilly said he even respects Americans who do not have faith (as long as they vote for him, perhaps), although he conveniently avoided looking for Mormon support. It appears that part of his weight loss may have been in his cranium. Continue reading Huckabilly Lays an Egg, Flunks Geography →

Veiled Voices

Egypt, Film and Video, Gender and Sexuality, Islamic Rituals, Lebanon, Syria, YouTube Watch


Brigid Maher, Director of “Veiled Voices”

Veiled Voices is a one-hour documentary that investigates the grassroots movement of Muslim women in the Middle East who act as religious leaders. It introduces the viewer to a world rarely seen by outsiders: the world of devout Arab Muslim women leading other women in prayers and lessons. Veiled Voices concentrates primarily on Ghina Hammoud, a divorced mother separated from her children, who has a television program and a charitable foundation in Lebanon, and Huda al-Habash, who has a loving and supportive husband and children, and runs lessons and programs in a mosque in Syria. Veiled Voices also travels to Egypt, where women struggle for public recognition in roles of authority over men; this is contrasted with Syria, where some male religious authorities, such as the Grand Mufti, are encouraging of women in leadership roles. The film shows women empowered, while exploring the struggles they face on both a personal and a public level. Continue reading Veiled Voices →