by Nazia @25nazia Last week* I felt like my back had broken. Every night I slept in pain. Feeling stiff, disjointed, sore and disillusioned I would awaken. I tried not to be a recluse and hibernate my way through this agony and began surfing social media because its entertainment as well as educational, right? I …
by Hafsa Guled @QUESADILLABABY The first time I hated my skin color was in the ninth grade and it was just after biology class. We were in the brightly lit hallway, goofing off when we saw two of the upperclassmen leaving the bathroom while adjusting their make-up. The louder one, Mariam, whom I both admired and …
For almost 30 years I wore a headscarf. For almost 30 years I believed it was an integral part of my faith and I would be disobeying god by not wearing it. For almost 30 years I believed that if I didn’t wear one, I would be constantly harassed and pursed by men – my …
by Roszeen Afsar @Roszeen In my previous piece, ‘The Unwritten Woman’, I highlighted the need for women of different backgrounds to write about their experiences, here I want to focus on women writing as a profession. The idea for these two blog pieces really came into my mind when I picked up a book called ‘Black …
The Writer Woman (Thoughts on ‘Black Milk’ by Elif Shafak) Read More »
Setting the scene. It’s breakfast. We all silently munch away. Silence is broken. “Did you know that another girl has taken her hijab off” The Females pipe up. Sighs Tuts “And from such a respectable family” More sighs More tuts I stuff another piece of toast in my mouth. Best keep quiet. The Misogynist of …
Nadiya Hussain. There you go – crystal clear. If I had written it, nobody would have believed me. Nobody could see her skill. Nobody can see past the fact that she wears a headscarf. Muslims and non-Muslims alike. If this isn’t the proof then nothing is. When you wear a headscarf – nobody can see …
All Women Who Cover Their Heads Are Nadiya Hussain Read More »
Only if you have been living on another planet would you have not heard about the Great British Bake Off, the television show which has the taken the UK by a storm. Ahead of tonight’s final, we thought we would list ten reasons why we think finalist Nadiya Hussain is awesome and should win! She …
Let’s be honest my friends, many in our community will think nothing of a 45 year old man pursuing and, in some cases, successfully capturing the attention of a 22 year old woman. The lucky suitor will be applauded, receive an encouraging ‘mashallah beta’ pat on the back from ammi and be lavished with ‘atta …
Dear Asian community – It’s time to discuss the F-word Read More »
Dear Happily Married SuperMum, Hi there. You already know me so I won’t go into too much depth describing myself: I’m basically the antithesis of everything you are – the all-too visible single brown elephant in the room. You know, the +30-year-old “bogey-woman” who looks like she’s having way too much fun being single to …
An Open Letter to Happily Married SuperMums (Who Got Lucky…) Read More »
by Roszeen Afsar @Roszeen ‘Few writers have had a direct vision into woman. Few women had vision into themselves!’ – Anais Nin (quote attributed to D. H. Lawrence in Nin’s Diary, Volume 1) I love reading and writing, it has been my passion since a very young age. After much reflection over the past few years …