non-muslim women

Unlike The Vagina Monologues, which brought private subject matter into public discourse, Hijabi Monologues is actually taking the hijab from the public news and media discourse back into women’s personal lives. Even further, the play seeks to re-capture the voices and identities of Muslim American women for themselves. Regarded as an experience that will challenge both outsider and insider understandings of a distinctly American Muslim community, HM takes the viewer on an emotional roller coaster with issues rarely discussed in public space.

In two recent reviews of an interview with Seryan Ates about her book, “Islam Needs a Sexual Revolution,”one reviewer found Ates’ suggestion that the Muslim world could mimic the West’s sexual revolution both inaccurate and implausible. The other felt that Ates should fall back on more than just her personal experiences when trying to persuade the reader of the imminence and importance of a sexual revolution.

While the stated intent of a recent CNN article appeared positive, its actual content is misleading and unpersuasive. If this piece had run in a high school newspaper, it would not have been a cause for such alarm. That it ran as a headline article on CNN.com under the guise of dispelling myths about the hijab is troubling.