Islamophobia Awareness Month Blog #2

Islamophobia Awareness Month Blog #2

Islamophobia doesn’t function on its own

You might read the list in part 1 and think ‘this doesn’t just affect Muslims’ and you’d be right. Islamophobia impacts multiple groups of people, and it doesn’t function alone. It combines with different types of harm that reproduce inferior and superior groups of people. These include anti-Blackness, ableism, misogyny, and xenophobia. 

In Faith & VAWG’s upcoming report ‘My Cross to Bear?’ We look at how racism, sexism, and Islamophobia work together in complex ways, and how Black women have to deal with these issues. As Rabiat Akande has put it “Islamophobia like all forms of systemic oppression is more acutely experienced at particular intersections”.

‘My Cross to Bear?’ explores the ways Black women experience gender-based violence or what’s known as misogynoir i.e the combination of misogyny and anti-Blackness which also affects nonbinary and genderqueer Black people. In the VAWG sector, Black women’s safety concerns are minimised when Islamophobia and misogynoir combine. Monica Samuel from Black Women in Motion put this well when she said:

“The world praises Black women, Black girls and Black gender diverse people for how much shit they can put up with, how much abuse, how much violence can you endure? And then they turn around and call us resilient and strong and so much of us, like myself included in this, we have worn strong as a badge of honour. When in reality we are suffering and being harmed, interpersonally and institutionally. And it’s incredibly dehumanising, and we didn’t choose this. We didn’t choose to exist in systems that erase our experiences. We didn’t choose to experience the violence and harm that we do, as a result of colonialism and white supremacy.” – From Misogynoir and Healing Journeys with Monica Samuels.

Disabled Muslim women, genderqueer and nonbinary people experience ableism alongside Islamophobia, queerphobia, misogyny and other forms of harm. Racism is built into ableism and ableism is built into racism. Disability Justice activist Rebecca Cokley calls them “roots of the same tree”.

Islamophobia exacerbates the struggles of disabled Muslims. Racist housing policies, racist education policies, racist employment policies, racist welfare policies and racist policies on domestic violence all impact disabled Muslims. Many practitioners and advocates in the VAWG sector ignore the ways that these different policies impact the lives of Muslims seeking safety. 

One way we see non-disabled people perpetuate patriarchy in the VAWG sector is by seeing disabled women, genderqueer and nonbinary people as naturally inferior, in need of saving and by erasing their sexuality. This ableist view can lead services, and those working with survivors, failing to identify abusers, because they think of them as heroes simply for being in relationship with or being a carer for a disabled person.