Ep#37 – Eiynah

http://www.nicemangos.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.nicemangos.blogspot.co.uk/

It’s a pleasure to welcome Eiynah (@NiceMangos) back to The #GSPodcast.  We have a debrief on her Tommy Robinson conversation from Episode #34.  We also hear of her upbringing in Saudi Arabia, gay relationships, her open letter to Ben Affleck,
Returning Jihad fighters, Michael Moore, rape threats, #Shirtgate and Naked Dating!

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Below is a guest post from Eiynah:

Swept up in enjoyable conversation, I feel like I might have missed some points that I’d love to add now,

I try to be a person who usually comes from the middle ground. Regarding the topics of Islam, feminism and even atheism…No extreme sits easy with me and when ideas start being seen as infallible, they become a problem. When feminism is seen as dogma that should remain unchallenged because of its base premise of equality – it becomes less about equality and more about control. I have expectedly received a lot of angry comments from fellow feminists regarding my Rosetta piece, that have implied I am a feminist-betrayer. Which sounds a lot like the response I got from many muslims regarding my letter to Ben Affleck.  It has been said that the message being sent via this shirt is that ‘men do important things and women look sexy’  – sigh. If drawings of sexy women threaten your idea that women can do important things, then I don’t quite know what to tell you.

I should have perhaps elaborated a bit more on my personal experiences with radical feminists/feminism. Of course ‘not all radfems’ perceive all PIV sex to be rape. But my experiences thus far have involved many radical feminists being exclusionary towards kink, trans women, sex workers. I have heard much talk of how heterosexual relationships are usually oppressive, rife with inequality, etc. I have been told about how many radical feminists do not support initiatives like the pride parade because they are kink-inclusive and trans-inclusive. The concept of women being able to make decisions for themselves in terms of consenting to any form of kink or S&M is questioned. This type of feminism is not empowering for me. Where finger pointing and calling people a victim-blamer at the drop of a hat occurs regularly. Radical feminism really hurts the cause of equality and empowerment for women, in my humble opinion. Picking on a shirt, makes light of the real issues women face. I also don’t appreciate the implication that every time I express my sexuality I am compared to an object. I am a sexual being, and I have as much right to be one as a man. Something I find that sexualizes women unnecessarily is the idea that they have to be dressed modestly to not be thought of as objects.

When speaking about Pakistani media’s non reaction to My Chacha is Gay, I forgot to mention some very important things such as the fact that every avenue I have attempted to get this book into Pakistan through has been blocked off. Schools, libraries even supposedly progressive bookstores have refused. One bookstore even went through the trouble of lying to customers who asked them to order it in. They said that Pakistani Customs had refused to let the book into the country. Some journalists who tried to write a story on this book were told they couldn’t. It’s been quite an interesting journey that has exposed the level of homophobia that exists. But in fairness, I must also mention that there are small pockets of incredibly supportive people in Pakistan. Its sad though, because those are the voices that get silenced and drowned out by the extremists. During my crowd-funding campaign, my largest donation for publishing was from a Pakistani. The fact that it has been covered around the world will hopefully put the pressure on Pakistan to be more accepting of such an initiative. And rather than avoiding the discussion all together, I do wish Pakistan would have a stance on it, if they want to ban a children’s book about love and family, I wish they would go ahead and do it already!

Thank you for listening,

-E

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