BAKWA, AFGHANISTAN – A convoy of jeeps packed with turban-clad and bearded Taliban militia roar through the rocky streets of a small Afghan town. The engines slowly die down as the militiamen hop off their vehicles and prepare to unleash havoc and raid homes.
But something unusual mystifies them and halts their extremist fervor. An ominous silence fills the town, as if it were a strange pause in reality. They ponder, “Has the town been abandoned?” The silence is interrupted by the desert wind blowing against curtains and flags, while startling the braying animals. The radicals soon realize: the wind is not alone.
A female voice emerges from gusts of sand and warns the Taliban to turn back. The leader becomes infuriated and threatens to burn the entire town to the ground if the people don’t come out of hiding. The invisible entity replies as her voice steps closer and closer to the militia, “[the town] is under my protection. Leave before you get a demonstration of what that means.” The leader is not intimidated and asks what will happen if he does not retreat.
“I’ll rip the skin from your bones,” answers the wind.
Infused with arrogance, the Taliban scoffs, “I would truly like to see that.” Immediately, the gust of sand swirls into a tornado and swallows the leader’s hand and disarms him of his assault rifle. The sandstorm retracts while the Taliban leader screams in pain and looks at his skeletal hand in horror. Finally, the Taliban rush to their jeeps and speed off from the town. The desert wind and sand transform to reveal the city’s invisible hero. Meet “Dust,” or Sooraya Qadir, a burqa-garbed adolescent Afghan girl who has the ability, as shown in the scene above, to shape into sandstorms and tear the skin off her enemies. She has been a member of Marvel Comic’s X-Men since her first appearance in 2002 and she currently appears regularly in the “Young X-Men” comic books. In the male-dominated world of comic books where female characters are depicted with large breasts and skimpy skin-tight (or lack of) clothing, it’s interesting to examine whether or not Dust and other Muslim super-heroines escape the sexual objectification and sexism that women often suffer in comic books. Are the Muslim women subjected to stereotypes? Are they doomed to the same fate of other female characters? Does the “male gaze” still apply? In Part 1 of this essay, these are but a few questions that we will apply to the character of Dust, and as we shall learn, the answers are fairly complex. In Part 2, we will explore other Muslim female characters where unfortunately, there is hardly any improvement.
In regards to Dust, the “X-Men” is the perfect place to accommodate a Muslim character. X-Men fans, or those who have seen the films, already know that the storyline centralizes on how mutants – evolved and “gifted” humans with superpowers – are discriminated against by other human beings. Mutants are misunderstood, feared, and hated by the public, while the media and government powers promote ignorance, persecution, and even war upon them. Sound familiar? Recall the opening scene from X-Men 2 when a mind-controlled Nightcrawler nearly assassinates the President of the United States and the television headlines scream: “Mutants Attack the White House.” I remember when I first saw that scene I couldn’t help but think of September 11th. What made me relate even more to the scene was how the X-Men – mutants who had absolutely nothing to do with the attack – were crowded around the television and watching this news report and feeling as if they were responsible. X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner even explicitly stated on the DVD for X-Men 2, “If there is any oppressed minority—homosexual, religious, Muslim, whatever it is – that is the most absurd question that people do ask: ‘Can you try not to be who you are?’ And so we felt it was very important to show this whole absurd side.” So considering how relevant “X-Men” is to current events, how does Dust fit in at Professor Xavier’s Institute for Gifted Youngsters?
Grant Morrison, the X-Men writer who created Dust, said in an interview, “It can only happen at Marvel. As Wolverine comes closer to unlocking the dark secrets of his past, an Afghan Muslim mutant joins the X-Men. You want daring? You want different? Then meet Dust as New X-Men challenges the rules again.” Though the word “awesome” may initially spring to mind when one reads this statement, it can be strongly argued that the male gaze is still in effect. For those who are unfamiliar with the terminology, the “male gaze” is essentially female characters being depicted and presented in ways their heterosexual male writers, artists, and audiences would like to see them. In the case of Dust, we can make an argument for the western male gaze: an “oppressed” Muslim girl is rescued from Afghanistan by Wolverine, a western male mutant. Wolverine is told that the Taliban were trying to remove Dust’s burqa, obviously to molest her, and since there doesn’t seem to be other Muslims around to take a stand against the Taliban’s perverted behavior, who better to rescue her than Wolverine, or shall I say, western democracy? The scenario of Dust fighting the Taliban, as admirable as it is, occurs enough times in later issues that it makes one question if this is how western male writers, artists, and readers want to see a Muslim super-heroine, i.e. to rebel against her oppressors, the mutual enemy of the U.S. government?
To support this argument even further, there are many factors to consider, including political context. For example, Dust makes her first appearance in New X-Men # 133 which was published in December 2002, a little over a year after September 11th, 2001. In the issue prior to her debut (issue # 132), Morrison writes a tribute to the victims of Genosha, a fictional mutant homeland, where 16 million mutants were killed. There were two direct references to September 11th used in Marvel’s advertising of the comic book, calling the Genosha tragedy “the X-Men’s own 9/11.” The final page of the comic book shows the X-Men team crying at their loss. Next month, in issue # 133, we open to a full page of Wolverine slaughtering Taliban militants. Maybe I missed something, but the last time I checked, super-heroes don’t kill their enemies, no matter how destructive or deadly. I suppose Muslim radicals are exceptions! Even worse, we see Pakistani terrorists hijacking an Air-India plane while Professor Xavier and Jean Grey are aboard. Xavier uses his psychic abilities to convince the Pakistani hijacker, whose name happens to be Muhammad, to put down his weapon and surrender to the Indian authorities. Muhammad begins to cry and as he is arrested, he says, “It’s true, I don’t know what I’m doing with my life!” Morrison takes revenge on Muslim extremists by (1) brutally slaughtering them (via Wolverine) and (2) passively using mind tricks on them (via Xavier), and the best part is that he gets to (3) rescue an “oppressed” Afghan Muslim adolescent girl and take her home (via Wolverine again)!
Well, almost “home.” Wolverine carries Dust back to an X-Men headquarters in India – no X-Men headquarters in Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan, I take it – where Jean Grey kindly encourages Dust to reveal herself from concealment. “It’s ok, Sooraya,” Jean says, “You can turn back into human form now.” Finally, Dust appears in her black burqa saying “Toorab! Toorab!” Wolverine remarks, “It means ‘dust.’ It’s all she says.” Wow, the Arabic word for dust, “toorab,” is all she says? How cute! Not only does Morrison introduce us to a super-powered Muslim girl, but also to somewhat of a doll that exclaims “Toorab! Toorab!” whenever she gets excited about transforming back into human form. I can just picture Wolverine’s conversation with her while flying to India: “So kid, what’s your story?” “Toorab! Toorab!” She reminds me of those hooded Jawa creatures from “Star Wars” who live on the desert planet of Tatooine, always bustling around and saying the same things over and over again in their alien language.
We not only see a political slant here, which in turn justifies the western male gaze, we also see a female Muslim character that doesn’t have much of a personality. Morrison doesn’t even return to her character after this issue; instead he hands her over to other writers, but perhaps for the better, since they make significant improvements (which I will discuss later). Another thing is in play here and that’s male dependency, something that I discussed in a previous essay of mine, “The Objectification of Women in Graphic Novels.” Although one could argue that Wolverine is practically an indestructible character with his adamantium skeleton and rapid healing factor, it’s hard to believe why Dust would need any rescuing, considering her superpowers and her human enemies. If she was being recruited, the situation would be different and we wouldn’t see any sign of male dependency, but since we see a man rescue her, we assume that Dust’s superpowers are inferior: she is not nearly as powerful as male characters like Wolverine. We have seen female characters rely on their male counterparts in comic books many times before: Super Girl, Bat Girl, Spider Girl, the Huntress, She Hulk, Lois Lane, and so on. What’s important to look at here is that there is not a single positive male Muslim character in Dust’s debut issue – there are the Taliban militants that want to molest her and there are the Pakistani hijackers – but the Muslim women, who Morrison couldn’t possibly kill off since they’re “victims” in the Muslim world, are innocent, good, and “crying for freedom,” therefore they must be “saved” by western men. The racism and sexism work hand-in-hand.
Dust would not make her next appearance until January 2005 in New X-Men: Academy X # 2, where she is officially a member of the mutant team. This time under the authorship of Nunzio DeFilippis and his wife Christina Weir, Dust is explored more and begins to develop into a three-dimensional character. However, stereotypes about Muslim women arise, as does the great Islamic dress code debate. The topic on hijaabs, niqaabs, and burqas is not only controversial among Muslims and non-Muslims, but also among Muslims themselves! Perhaps, it would be no exaggeration to say that this issue is more debated within the Muslim community than outside. In any case, I understand the sensitivity of this matter, so I will offer a hopefully balanced perspective.
In issue # 2, Dust meets her roommate, Surge, who wears a tight tank top and pink shorts that are seemingly slipping down her waist. Provocative lyrics play from her boom box: “Yeah I drive naked through the park, and run the stop sign in the dark…” Surge is immediately hostile towards Dust because of the way she dresses. “So you don’t like my music, huh?” she says. Dust responds shyly and explains she doesn’t understand American music. Surge replies, “Yeah whatever, and speaking of things we don’t understand, is that outfit you’re wearing actually a burqa?” Dust tries to explain, but Surge interrupts and says wearing a burqa is shameful to women and makes them “subservient to men.” Dust replies politely, “no, the burqa is about modesty. There are boys and men on campus, and it is not right for me to show off by exposing myself or flesh to them.” Surge snaps back, “Are you saying I show too much flesh?” Again, Dust politely tries to explain, “No I do not judge the way you dress, I only ask that you do the same for me.” Surge walks to the door and says, “You do judge me… I don’t need to be lectured by someone who’s setting women back fifty years just by walking around like that.” Surge leaves the room and slams the door, leaving Dust dejected and discouraged.
No matter what your stance is on the burqa or the headscarf (hijaab), it is clear that this scene puts Dust on the defensive. In a place where mutants are supposed to feel accepted, Dust is misjudged because of her dress choices. In later issues, particularly New X-Men: Hellions # 2, we learn, from a conversation with her mother, that Dust is not forced to wear the burqa and she enjoys the protection it gives her from men. For Dust, the burqa is a choice, and that must be respected and defended.
However, I believe Dust’s reasoning for wearing the burqa is somewhat inaccurate and stereotypical. This may be due to the writers’ apparent misunderstanding of Muslim women and Islam in general. What’s annoying and arguably inaccurate is how Dust speaks about “protecting herself from men,” which not only make men out to be lustful and perverted, but it also sexualizes herself and makes her an object of desire. The beautiful teachings of modesty for both genders in Islam tend to be mistaken for the stereotypical notion of “protecting women from men.” These beliefs keep her side-lined, while the rest of the young Mutants develop crushes on one another and participate in extra-curricular activities. I’m not suggesting that Dust should start dating, but she should at least have some hobbies, otherwise she’s just a one-dimensional character! We either see Dust in the background or we catch a brief scene of her telling a fellow male mutant that she must decline taking a flight with him. It seems like she can’t do anything because her religion is so “restrictive.”
The way the writers present Islam is also a bit irritating. Almost every time we see Dust, she is praying and asking God for forgiveness for whatever sin she may have committed. A common stereotype that prevails in the west about Islam is that it doesn’t promote “freedom.” The word “Islam” means “submission” and this term is often associated with “slavery.” But Islam is not slavery – to be a servant of God, as believed by Muslims, is seen as humility and liberation of the Soul. It is to acknowledge a higher power greater than them. Unfortunately, Dust fulfills the negative stereotype that Islam is restrictive and that Allah is someone to constantly ask forgiveness from. I doubt these were the intentions of the writers, but it doesn’t take much to pick up on how secluded Dust is most of the time from her peers. It’s as if her social contact and interactions with the opposite sex is something she finds sinful, which is why she must be praying for “forgiveness.” It makes the reader perceive her as a “religious nut” as Surge calls her at one point. It makes me wonder what Dust enjoys doing on her free time? Who does she sit with during school assemblies? Who sits at her table during lunch breaks? These unanswered questions keep Dust’s character incomplete.
I know Muslim women who wear hijaab, niqaab, and even the burqa, and they still have social interactions with men. Since no Muslim alternative is presented, the writers risk Dust being stereotyped and generalized as what all Muslim women are like. It also formulates the stereotype that all Muslim women dress the way she does. There are some Muslims who praise Dust for being a devout Muslim girl who practices Islam “properly” because of the way she observes the burqa, but to praise Dust as a practicing Muslim on the basis of her burqa alone would be a serious mistake. It is also extremely offensive and even insulting because it marginalizes the Muslim women who don’t wear hijaab or the burqa. It makes them feel as if they’re not practicing Islam “properly” just because they don’t share the same views as other Muslims do about dress code. It creates a wild generalization that only Muslim women dressed in the burqa are spiritual, God-conscious, or practicing Muslims. Anyone familiar with Islamic teachings knows that the inward state of a human being is known to God alone, and just because someone wears a scarf over their head doesn’t immediately make them a pious person. Is Dust a devout Muslim? Yes. Is it because of her burqa? No. Dust states very clearly that she accepts other girls for the way they dress, and she only asks to be accepted for who she is in return. Perhaps we all can learn from Dust and learn how to accept one another for our differences.
So overall, can we appreciate a character like Dust? I think we can; however, there is a lot of room for improvement. As mentioned above, her character is incomplete and her character suffers from stereotypes that are due to misunderstandings about Islamic beliefs and practices. It bothers me that Dust is the product of a post-9/11 storyline, which features stereotypes towards Muslims, in the same way it bothers me that Wonder Woman is the product of a male fantasy. It also bothers me how weak her character is at times. In one scene, Dust loses her burqa after transforming back into human form. She is naked behind the bushes and asks Surge to hand her the burqa. This is insulting and serves no purpose at all except to weaken Dust’s character and to generate western pity for her: the poor Muslim girl who needs her burqa, otherwise she can’t go outside. How come none of the other characters lose their clothes, especially the female characters wearing short tank tops and shorts (or underwear for some)? They won’t lose their clothing, but a girl in a burqa will? Please. Surge then asks Dust what’s the big deal in men looking at her. “They’re just looking, so let them look,” says Surge. Dust, as usual, has weak comebacks and simply says Surge will not understand her. Again, I find this insulting because the writers use Surge to try to cheapen Dust and her personal beliefs. It would be nice to see Dust take a stronger stand for herself and not be so excluded because of her religion. It would also be nice to see more Muslim female characters that help shatter the stereotypes that have been generated about Muslim women. Possible ideas for female Muslim characters could include those who wear hijaab, don’t wear hijaab, and even those who are Shia or Sufi. After all, Islam celebrates diversity and embraces people of all ethnicities, cultures, genders, and schools of thought.
The concept of a female Muslim super-heroine in the realm of comic books is very exciting, but considering the role that women already suffer in comic books, we can expect that the road for characters like Dust won’t be steady. On one hand, she is applauded by a certain portion of readers, including some from the Muslim community, but perhaps, for the wrong reasons, while on the other hand, she is criticized for being too weak, one-dimensional, and stereotypical. There is potential for her to break boundaries, but there are risks and challenges involved: Right now, she is a supporting character in the “Young X-Men” series; is the west ready to see Dust with a comic book of her own? If so, what political stance will writers take on Dust’s religion, culture, and home country? Will artists depict her without the burqa? Will new Muslim characters be introduced to accompany her? Only time will tell. Hopefully, we will see more stories that carry the spirit of the X-Men films rather than those that reinforce old stereotypes.
In Part 2, I will look at how Muslim women are depicted in comic books published in the Arab and Muslim world. So until then: To Be Continued!
UPDATE: I know a lot of people have been pointing out that Wolverine does in fact kill and as soon as it was mentioned to me, I immediately realized that the Wolverine I had in mind was from the cartoon TV series. It was a mistake on my part (but I did say, “maybe I missed something,” lol). Anyway, it’s been bit embarrassing for me, so I just wanted to clear that up and point out that I acknowledge the error. In any case, it was still disturbing for me to see the issue begin with a huge pile of slaughtered Taliban, especially considering how this issue follows the Genosha tribute (which symbolizes the 9/11 tribute). The fact that Morrison never revisits Dust seems suspicious to me — it’s as if he needed to create a good Muslim character in order to cover up the Taliban slaughter and the Muslim stereotypes (Pakistani man named MUHAMMAD hijacking the AIR-INDIA plane). Anyway, I hope everyone accepts my apology.
UPDATE: Johanna_hypatia from Live Journal recently shared some really interesting points on how western publishers have an obsession with depicting Muslim women with face veils, which has become iconic of all Muslim women, “especially when the veils sets off their kohl-enhanced eyes.” She also made the mentioning of Orientalism by Edward Said.
This is the rest of her comment: “Dust is following the same script… (t)he Orient is exoticized and feminized, the better to make it an alluring prize to be dominated by conquering white male imperialists. In actual fact, the percentage of Muslim women in the world who veil their faces is tiny. It’s practiced mainly in the Persian Gulf countries and hardly at all elsewhere. Muslim feminist Asra Nomani wrote about this trend, with the iconic veiled woman used to represent Muslim women who are in fact not veiled at all — and she even got one of the white male publishers to admit that they display the veiled image for its allure of mysteriousness. This is sexism and racism fused into one. See her article ‘Why Do Western Publishers Have a Veil Fetish?’”
~ Broken Mystic ~
iMuslim said,
July 8, 2008 at 2:31 am
Great review, masha’Allah. I am not really familiar with US comic books… I am far more familiar with the film spin-offs. For example, I loved the Superman films (as played by Christopher Reeves) as a child. So much so, that I didn’t want to watch the latest modern-day instalment, as for me Reeves will always be the Man of Steel! I’m not sure comic books are as much part of British youth culture as they are in the States; as least they weren’t when I was a teen. Maybe things are different now, Allahu ‘alam.
I look forward to part 2!
Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill said,
July 8, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Actually, you are missing something. Since his early appearances in the 80’s, Wolverine has killed enemies on a fairly regular basis. Indeed, that was one of the feature of the character that make him popular; he stood out for his willingness to kill at will.
As for the rest, I applaud your critique; I differ in spots, yet the overall drive is sound, and I wish something like this was passed onto the writers. I suspect a lot of their info comes not from women who actually live these lives, but, at best, from Islamic men, who might or might not have a different perspective on matters.
brokenmystic said,
July 8, 2008 at 3:20 pm
iMuslim — thanks for stopping by and reading
I Loved the Superman films a lot too and I really liked the “Superman Returns” film that came out a couple of years ago. I think Superman gets misjudged a lot. People tend to see him as a dull character because “he can’t die,” but writers have expanded on his character a lot. He’s the ultimate immigrant — he’s from another planet — and he struggles with fitting in as an Earthling, mainly through his Love for Lois Lane. The Superman comics were really huge when the whole “Death of Superman” series came out, and I think that was intended to put a new twist to the story and create more sympathy for him.
You should watch the recent Superman movie! The actor, Brandon Routh, looks strikingly similar to Christopher Reeve. There’s one scene when Clark Kent first walks into “The Daily Planet” and smiles — he looks exactly like Christopher Reeve! I thought he did a pretty good job.
brokenmystic said,
July 8, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Woodrow,
I suppose I *was* missing something! The X-Men I was most familiar with was through the cartoon series on television, and I guess I got so used to Wolverine NOT killing people. Instead, he would slice up the Sentinels, which were robots. It was still kind of disturbing to see a huge pile of slaughtered Afghan militants with blood dripping from their mouths while Wolverine is at the top and showing off his blades. I guess I’ve gotten so used to Batman and Superman not killing their enemies that I forgot about Wolverine’s way of dealing with things. Thanks for pointing that out to me.
I’m not sure where the writers got their information from, but if it were from Muslim men who believed every Muslim woman should wear the burqa, then I highly doubt they would even support the creation of a Muslim female character in a comic book! From the way Dust recites the “call to prayer” when she is praying, it almost seems like the writers ran a google search for “Muslim prayers” and then just copied and pasted without knowing *when* certain prayers are said.
Thanks for your comments!
randalljones said,
July 8, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I don’t know the origins of this video, but I think you’ll find it interesting. It’s called “Israeli Commandos defeated by palestinian girl!!”
brokenmystic said,
July 8, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Hi Randall!
That’s from a Palestinian film called “Divine Intervention”! It’s a really brilliant film. They have scenes where a Palestinian woman walks past an Israeli checkpoint like she’s on a catwalk for a fashion show and the check-point tower just collapses. The opening scene has Palestinian boys running up the hills of Nazareth and throwing knives at Santa Clause! It’s really unlike anything I’ve seen before.
Thanks for sharing the link
Deirdre Saoirse Moen said,
July 8, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I can hardly wait to read part two!
“There are some Muslims who praise Dust for being a devout Muslim girl who practices Islam “properly” because of the way she observes the burqa, but to praise Dust as a practicing Muslim on the basis of her burqa alone would be a serious mistake. It is also extremely offensive and even insulting because it marginalizes the Muslim women who don’t wear hijaab or the burqa.”
There’s also the issue, as mentioned when I was in Egypt, of a number of non-devout women choosing to wear a burqa because it would provide them a better marriage partner, not because they were religious or submissive. So it’s not only marginalizing the women who don’t wear hijaab or burqa, it’s inferring too much about women who do.
The contrast between Egypt and Turkey is quite notable: Turkey has a significantly higher percentage of Muslims, but a much lower percentage of women wearing hijaab or burqa.
Zenlari said,
July 8, 2008 at 11:10 pm
This is a great essay! I have been reading/following Dust/Sooraya for quite some time, (since her inception actually,) and I have a few points that might be helpful for your essay:
First, Sooraya was portrayed in an alternate timeline, (House of M,) as being a free-spirited, Westernized Muslim woman that was best friends with a vapid version of Jubilee, I believe. Second, I wanted to point out that “asim” is right in regards to that Wolverine has killed plenty before, (and still does, one of the X-force one shots depicts him standing on a top of disemboweled/massacred pile of bodies from a privatized militia,) in fact, that’s why he’s chosen to lead the new “X-Force” team. Third, the route for Dust seems to be getting worse as she was recently just turned into glass, (while in Sand form,) while fighting Magma, another mutant; currently, the future for Dust is actually unknown until the next couple of issues.
I look forward to your next post, this one looks amazing!
randalljones said,
July 9, 2008 at 3:39 am
It would have been nice if the X-men writers brought realism to the storyline by including some flashback scenes which shows the American government recruiting and training Muslim extremist fighters just so that it give the Soviet Union its “Vietnam.”
mas3ud said,
July 9, 2008 at 3:45 am
When you said “Maybe I missed something, but the last time I checked, super-heroes don’t kill their enemies, no matter how destructive or deadly”…you are mistaken when you say this. This usually pertains to characters like Superman and Spiderman. The comic book geek that i am, I’ve read many issues of Wolverine and he totally destroys and kills his enemies. Whether its the taliban or his arch enemy Sabretooth, Wolverine always wants to put his enemies down. Wolverine isn’t the typical “hero” in the comic world, he’s actually considered what they call the “anti-hero”. Although this has no relevance to the article in large, I just find it somewhat annoyed that someone who supposedly reads comics can say something like that. But anyway, the rest of your argument holds true, Dust is seen as a weak and stereotypical character. Its too bad they don’t have muslim artists or writers/editors to correct the misunderstanding.
brokenmystic said,
July 9, 2008 at 5:23 am
Mas3ud,
Thanks for the comment, and you’re right about Wolverine. Someone else pointed that out on my blog as well. I admit that the Wolverine I was mostly exposed to was the Wolverine in the X-Men cartoons, where he obviously didn’t kill anyone.
I am well aware too that he is an anti-hero. As soon as someone pointed that out to me, I immediately thought about the movies where Wolverine even kills soldiers. With that said, I still believe it’s disturbing how there’s a whole pile of Taliban slaughtered by Wolverine.
You mentioned Spider-man and Superman as characters who don’t kill, but there’s also Batman. And I *do* read comic books, but I’ve always been more of a DC comics guy.
I was thinking of Wolverine in a different context. A mistake on my part.
Perhaps I should be banned to the spice mines of Kessel now
brokenmystic said,
July 10, 2008 at 6:56 am
Zenlari,
Thanks for your comments and your appreciation of my essay! I still feel bad about the Wolverine mistake I made — I don’t know, I’ve been talking mostly with people about Batman, since the new film is coming out and all, and we were talking about Batman doesn’t kill, but in the Tim Burton films, he does. So we were having a discussion about that, and then I wrote this entry. Even the film’s portrayal of Wolverine show him kill, so I don’t know how in the world that slipped my mind.
Anyway, thanks for sharing those points. I’m currently following Dust in the Young X-Men comics and I read issue # 3. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I hope she will be alright
Insha’Allah (God Willing)
Tiel Aisha Ansari said,
July 10, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Actually Marvel has gone back and forth on whether Wolverine kills people. In most of the early issues, he was pretty much the slice-and-dicer, but there was a point somewhere in the 90s where the editorial position was “no, he’s never _really_ killed anyone”. (Which was pretty silly from the viewpoint of anyone who’d been reading the comic for more than about 5 years. But the marketing for most superhero comics is based on the premise that they will get a new crop of readers every 5 to 7 years, because they’re aimed at the preteen/early teen demographic.)
Marvel’s minority and gay characters have generally tended to be tokens, and deeply stereotyped. Dust sounds like no exception. One’s always left with the reaction “well, it’s nice that they have a (black, Native American, gay, Muslim, etc) character, but does she/he have to be such a loser?” We just have to hope that she opens the door for more and better-developed characters.
londonkds said,
July 11, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Have you seen this essay about how the manner in which Dust’s costume is usually drawn rather conflicts with its claimed Islamic motivation? Warning: the author is explicitly opposed to Islamic dress codes on feminist grounds, but that shouldn’t detract from the main critique of the essay.
http://girl-wonder.org/girlsreadcomics/?p=27
brokenmystic said,
July 11, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Hi Londonkds,
Thanks for sharing that link. I think that author has a misunderstanding of the burqa and Muslim women. It’s easy to be against something without fully understanding it. It’s good that she mentioned that she will defend a woman’s choice to dress like that though.
The women who choose to wear burqa do not feel like they are property of men and they don’t feel like they are being restricted. We cannot deny those experiences. Then she says that she finds the midriff shirt “immeasurably less offensive.” Sure, less offensive to her, but what about the Muslim community? No doubt that there are some Muslim women who dress like that, but what purpose is it serving in the comic book — is it saying that she is more “free” in the U.S.? Is it saying that she is more “liberated” just because she can dress like that?
It gets complicated. I respect the author’s views, and I like how she defends a woman’s choice to wear the burqa. She also makes some great points about how Dust’s burqa doesn’t really serve it’s purpose since it’s so skin-tight. I totally agree with her on that.
Thanks for sharing the link
Juan said,
July 12, 2008 at 10:08 am
Can’t wait for part two. Unfortunately, given not just Marvel but the entire industry’s track record with women and minorities of any sort to name a few (more so if they fall in at least two categories), I’m a pessimist as to Dust’s fate. Probably ever since I was first introduced to her in X-Men Academy with the contrast they set up between her and Surge. And the way they drew her outfit about her and the House of M version of her as westernized just kept making me lose hope and still does.
Sorry for being a downer yet I felt I needed to share that. =/
Can’t remember where I was going with this post other than I was linked here and rather like the material in your blog.
hortensio said,
July 22, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Wow, the Arabic word for dust, “toorab,” is all she says?
Heh… and since when do random kids from Afghanistan default to Arabic?
ayah said,
July 25, 2008 at 1:57 am
i love this
the way i put it is great,
how u look at the situation from all angles without making prejugment
god bless u
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July 26, 2008 at 7:55 pm
[...] women in comic books, the subject of how Muslim female characters are portrayed is even smaller. In part 1 of this essay, I looked at how the character of “Dust” was depicted in a popular American comic [...]
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Links - Female, Muslim & Mutant, Olympic Rumors, WoC & Beauty Carnival, Publishers Contract Issues - Deja Vu & Why Say No? « Words From The Center, Words From The Edge said,
July 29, 2008 at 6:36 pm
[...] created by Muslims such as Noora, Hadya, Jalila and Aya in two parts – Female, Muslim and Mutant (Part 1, Part 2) . All characters are deconstructed and its a very interesting exploration of the true [...]
Jenni said,
August 1, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I happened by, and thought your two articles were very interesting. I hadn’t heard of The 99 before, but I will keep an eye out for it!
Re your point on Wolverine rescuing Sooraya. I don’t want to downplay the sexist / imperialist points you make, but I think you should also consider the other cases in which young mutants are identified and invited to join the X-Men or Xavier’s school. It’s not unusual for young, new mutants to be rescued from peril by the more experienced X-Men or the wise Prof Xavier. Nightcrawler is rescued from an angry mob, Kitty Pryde is saved from the clutches of the White Queen when she was part of the Hellfire Club. It’s true that this doesn’t happen to everyone (otherwise it would get quite boring, apart from anything!), but it is quite a well-known trope that is not used purely in the service of orientalism.
It might be quite interesting to do a comparison both of origin stories and ongoing treatment of ethnic minority and conspicuously ‘foreign’ (to America) characters. Storm is not rescued by Xavier but she is constantly marked out as ‘wild’ and ‘untamed’ in her unselfconsciousness about nudity (good excuse, yeah, sure). Generally characters are marked by strong, stereotyped, hints on their ‘USP’ – Roberto da Costa is constantly reinforced as Brazilian by making him speak bits of portuguese – except for when they (often) screw it up and make him speak spanish(!). Do Marvel do better at some kinds of ‘exoticism’ than others? Do some kinds of ‘exotic’ characters get normalized as they are integrated into the fabric of the X-men stories? (Colossus comes out with fewer Russian phrases now than he did – is this because he is an accepted character or because Russians are less exotic than they used to be in the 80s?).
Kevin Huxford said,
August 17, 2008 at 2:07 am
Assalaam alaikum,
I don’t know. I’ve always thought a devout follower of a faith would keep to the strict interpretation of it. If you take shortcuts with your own personal interpretations, that’s not exactly devout. Doesn’t mean you’re not muslim or a good muslim, but devout? Not exactly. Does covering make her devout? Not by itself. But it is part of the picture of a devout muslima.
And I don’t think you’re being fair with knocking the Dust character’s constantly asking for forgiveness. I don’t see that as a sign that Allah is restrictive and demanding. I see it as an acknowledgment that no human is perfect and that we all make at least small mistakes from time to time that we’d want forgiveness for.
I, also, don’t think you’re being fair for knocking the writer for making Dust a perfectly real example of a muslima that exists in society. They don’t write her as a hardline fundamentalist, since you note that she accepts her friends who don’t cover.
I, also, don’t think you’re being fair (I should just copy and paste that for each paragraph) when you quibble about the reasoning for covering. Yes, modesty is part of why all muslims (men and women) are to cover. But protecting yourself and the men around you from the sin of fornication (both physical and mental) is certainly one of the key motivating factors for covering. Why is it considered more permissable for a muslim man to leave his hair uncovered while a muslima is directed to cover it? Because a woman’s hair softens her and enhances her sensual appearance. And it is done as much to protect women from men as it is to protect men from themselves. And, in our more sexually enlightened times, maybe even to protect a woman from her own desires. Kind of like the reasoning behind a chaperone being required on dates.
How does one help increase tolerance for strict followers of Islam without using an example of a strict follower of Islam? Can no good be recognized in the writer’s use of Dust following her faith this way? Is the writer obligated to all of a sudden have 5 other muslimas training with the X-Men? Is it such a crime that Dust is written as a very chaste muslima that one should be arguing so strongly against her current portrayal?
I feel that it is overly harsh critiques like this that make writers hesitant to try to present examples of religious, racial or other minorities. You know, there are plenty of muslims, I believe, that would write her the same way, even if they aren’t as strict in their interpretation. Why? Because they’d be afraid of being considered as having led muslims astray from the best path to follow. I pitched a much more westernized muslima to Shadowline when they had their “So You Want To Create A Superheroine?” contest. I have to admit that the chance that I’d be accountable for anyone being encouraged to be less strict from my writing did come to mind more than once.
To the desire of more diversity, there is a muslima that, while still wearing a hijaab, is much more westernized appearing in Captain Britain & MI 13, also from Marvel. Patience, brother, is a virtue. I feel we should embrace the examples we have thus far and encourage diversity, rather than condemn the examples we have and demand diversity. With time, we will see shia & possibly sufist muslims.
Muh salaam
Blogs We Like: Muslim women in comics « Amana Media Initiative Blog said,
August 18, 2008 at 8:53 am
[...] Blogs We Like: Muslim women in comics 18 08 2008 http://brokenmystic.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/female-muslim-and-mutant-a-critique-of-muslim-women-in-... [...]
jaytheoneletterwonder said,
August 19, 2008 at 10:31 pm
I thought this was a very well written and thought out. The only critique I would offer that I haven’t seen anyone else bring up is that the X-Men writers do seem to show characters with an earnest faith in judeo-christian religions the same way,as ypu memtion: Almost every time we see Dust, she is praying and asking God for forgiveness for whatever sin she may have committed.
KDBryan said,
August 20, 2008 at 12:54 am
Thank you for a very interesting and educational article (here via WFA). I’d love to hear your thoughts on Dr. Faiza Hussain, a very recently created Muslim superheroine in the brand-new series Captain Britain and MI-13. There was also a great deal of recent discussion over the insulting, bigoted tone of an interviewer at a local comics news site about Dr. Faiza Hussain prior to the series even being released.
As far as the X-Men and how mutants of differing spirituality are portrayed, there has often a troubling gap between well-meaning intention and execution. Rahne Sinclair’s Presbyterian faith is usually shown as being only a source of neuroses and self-flagellation, putting her at war with her “true self”. The character of Gateway, an Aboriginal Australian, was frankly so stereotypical as to be insulting. On the other hand, Nightcrawler’s Catholicism has been explored with surprising thoroughness and Kitty Pryde’s Judaism as been an integral part of the character almost from her inception. In any case, it’s most certainly a topic worthy of further discussion.
Female, Muslim, and Mutant: A Critique of Muslim Women in Comic Books - Part 1 of 2 at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture said,
August 21, 2008 at 3:04 pm
[...] by Guest Contributor Jehanzeb Dar, originally published at Broken Mystic [...]
Female, Muslim & Mutant « Pink’s Pensieve said,
August 24, 2008 at 12:38 am
[...] Female, Muslim, and Mutant: A Critique of Muslim Women in Comic Books – Part 1 of 2 Female, Muslim, and Mutant: A Critique of Muslim Women in Comic Books – Part 2 of 2 [...]
brokenmystic said,
August 25, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Wa alaykoum asalaam Kevin,
I’ll have to disagree with you on many of the points you made, but I appreciate your thoughts and feedback.
What’s problematic with saying a believer should stick to a “strict interpretation” of the faith is that it seems to imply that anyone who doesn’t follow the Faith in a certain way is “deviant.” Another thing that makes me uncomfortable is how you said there are no “shortcuts” in faith and that people shouldn’t follow their “personal interpretations” – so, if a person expresses views and beliefs about Islam that are different than yours, does this mean they are taking “shortcuts” or following their own “personal interpretations?” These, to me, create generalizations, misconceptions, and stereotypes. As I’m sure you know, Islam is filled with diversity, and just because someone doesn’t follow what you consider the “strict interpretation” of it, doesn’t mean that they are not “devout” or practicing Muslims. There was a Hadith (sayings of the Prophet, peace be upon him) shared at my Mosque last Friday, and it was about Muslims who asked the Prophet, “who is a man of Paradise?” The Prophet saw a man walking by and he pointed to him and said: “that man is a man of Paradise.” The Muslims were all shocked and stunned, and one of them was so curious that he followed the man. He was surprised that this man didn’t even get up for the all the prayers, and he was living a very normal and average life. Finally, the man said to him, “what makes you a man of paradise? What makes you so special?” The other man responded and said, “I don’t do anything special, I am just a simple man and I live like everyone else here. I do what everyone else does. But before I go to sleep, I always take all the envy, the grudges, the anger, and the hatred out of my heart.” And that is what makes him the man of paradise. What is the moral of the story? We may be called many different things in this world, with our titles, labels, professions, etc., but our INNER STATE is known to no one else but God. When someone called another Muslim a “kafir” (infidel), the Prophet said to the accusers, “How do you know? Did you rip open his heart and see what was in it?”
I also believe you’re generalizing when you say that Dust’s dress code represents part of the picture of a “devout Muslima”. It’s clear that you believe Muslim women cannot be devout just by the niqab alone, but you also believe it is compulsory. Correct me if I am wrong.
I don’t know if you’ve read the “New X-Men” comic books or not, but Dust is always asking forgiveness as if every little thing in life is sinful. I don’t have a problem with her praying, and I don’t have a problem with the writers showing how devout she is, but when it gets so repetitive to the point where her faith divides her from people just because she’s afraid it will be “sinful,” then that’s when it gets ridiculous. What are the writers trying to show – that Muslim women cannot interact with non-Muslims, especially with non-Muslim boys?
I strongly disagree with you on your interpretations of modesty and the Qur’an. Modesty is a beautiful practice that is taught in Islam, but just because a woman wears hijaab or niqab doesn’t mean that men won’t abuse her or stare at her. If you’ve ever been to any of the so-called Muslim countries, I’m sure you would notice that many of the men will still stare at women, regardless of what they are wearing. They’ll howl and cheer and whistle, and they’ll even physically harass women. My mother, for example, was sexually harassed in the crowd, right in front of the Kaabah! In the Holy City of Mecca! She was covered and everything too, but that didn’t stop a man from groping at her. She’s not the only woman who has experienced this either; many Muslim women have similar experiences.
And with respect, I believe you’re objectifying women when you say a woman’s hair “softens her and enhances her sensual appearance.” This is simply another form of sexualizing and objectifying women. In western music videos (as well as music videos in other parts of the world), we see half-naked women dancing and exposing their body parts – this is clearly objectification, but to speak of women as if they are “diamonds” or “pearls” or “treasure” and to say that they must be “protected” is ALSO a form of objectification. Thinking of women as “treasure” is to perceive them as objects of desire, a prize to be won, or some precious jewel, and to say that they must be protected from “themselves” is a huge insult to their own individuality. It’s denying that women have individuality, and its suggesting that they are merely possessions for “pious Muslim men.” This kind of mentality produces really negative and even hostile reactions in people. In certain countries (not just Muslim countries), women are stoned to death or buried alive if they fall in Love with a man of their choice, commit adultery, or have sex outside of marriage. I will not condone adultery, but to take someone’s life away with such torture – is that something that we have the right to do? Must we pass judgment on individuals when we cannot even look within their Soul, and only God can do that? Even if a woman is raped in certain parts of the world, she will be punished and tortured if she doesn’t provide four witnesses. What if there aren’t four witnesses? What happens then?
The stoning and other brutal acts of violence occur because those societies perceive women as jewels that must not be corrupted, and if they are “corrupted,” then they don’t have any “value.” They must be disposed of. They must be disowned, and then killed. What kind of system is that? What is so Divine and Islamic about that? What is so “honorable” about stoning your daughter or burying her alive just because of something she did? What happened to Forgiveness, Compassion, and Understanding? How many men commit adultery in Muslim countries? I know more than a handful of Muslim men who come into the United States or other western countries, sleep around with multiple women (some of them do it while their wives are still in their home country), and then when they’re ready for marriage, they dump their western girlfriends, and get married to a virgin Muslim girl. Yes, they demand a virgin Muslim girl. What do you think she wants? What if she wants a virgin Muslim man? All he has to do is lie to her. There is no way to prove a man’s virginity. But what happens to these men, Kevin? Do they get stoned? Do they get buried alive or disowned or slaughtered? Doesn’t this show you how sexist the system is? And trust me, I will always rise to Islam’s defense whenever people blame these brutal acts of violence on Islam because I know there is nothing Islamic about it at all.
Anyway, when you speak of our “sexually more enlightened” times, are you suggesting that a Muslim woman is unable to control herself if she doesn’t wear hijaab? There are plenty of Muslim women who wear hijaab and sleep around too. There are many Muslim women who wear hijaab for social and identity and cultural purposes, especially the younger generation, but (1) it doesn’t mean that all Muslim women who wear hijaab are like this, and (2) it doesn’t mean that Muslim women who don’t wear hijaab can’t control their sexual desires. If a Muslim woman doesn’t wear hijaab, does that make her a bad Muslim? I believe we all need to be accepting of the various interpretations of the Qur’an, because there are many Muslims (scholars included) who don’t believe the hijaab or niqab is compulsory. Just because a person subscribes to a certain school of thought doesn’t mean that their way is “deviant” or that they’re following their own “personal interpretations.” Imagine if someone accused you of following your “personal interpretations” of Islam, how would that make you feel? I’m sure you would say it doesn’t matter what other people think, and it’s all about what God thinks, and that’s very true, but it doesn’t mean it’s acceptable for people to question someone’s Faith or accuse them for things they don’t even believe about themselves. And we’re human, so we’re all bound to get affected by what others say to us at some point or another.
Lastly, I must reiterate that I don’t have a problem with a devout Muslim character like Dust, and I even said at the end that she is a step in the right direction and she has potential. My problem is with the way she is being presented. You may see her as a “proper” Muslim girl, but I see her as an insignificant background character that just makes the western characters look superior. You also have to consider the context in which her character was introduced, i.e. in a post 9/11 comic book. Have you read her debut issue? What’s the first page? Wolverine slaughtering an army of Taliban militants. Who are the male Muslim characters? The Taliban and a couple of Pakistani hijackers on an Air India plane, one of their names being Muhammad. In addition to this, Professor Xavier humiliates the Pakistani hijackers in front of Indian soldiers and calls the Pakistani’s ideas “irrational.” Apparently, the liberation of Kashmir, which the Pakistani hijacker actually mentions in the comic book, is an irrational idea. Dust is rescued by Wolverine from Afghanistan and taken to an X-Men headquarters in India. What, there aren’t any X-Men headquarters in Muslim countries like Pakistan or Afghanistan? Why not? Did Wolverine have to slice n’ dice his way through Pakistan in order to get Dust to India?
There is no crime in having a chaste Muslim character. Your quarrel should be with Grant Morrison’s presentation of the character, as well as the surrounding male Muslim characters who either want to molest Dust, kill westerners, or hijack airplanes in the name of “irrational ideas”. Like I mentioned in my post, there are Muslims who praise Dust for the wrong reasons.
Salaam/Peace
Female, Muslim, and Mutant: A Critique of Muslim Women in Comic Books - Part 2 of 2 at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture said,
August 26, 2008 at 1:26 pm
[...] women in comic books, the subject of how Muslim female characters are portrayed is even smaller. In part 1 of this essay, I looked at how the character of “Dust” was depicted in a popular American comic [...]
Kevin Huxford said,
August 28, 2008 at 2:56 am
as salaam alaikum,
I think we’ll have to leave our disagreements where they are. I thought I’d respond at first, but when I got to the point where you claimed I was objectifying women by just recognizing their hair as one of the elements that makes them attractive (and, thus, is stated as needing to be covered) tells me that we’re too far off to converse and not necessarily going to be respectful to one another if we bother to try.
Muh salaam
Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » Open Thread and Link Farm (feminist geeky stuff edition) said,
September 2, 2008 at 8:17 am
[...] “Female, Muslim, and Mutant: A Critique of Muslim Women in Comic Books.” Part 1 and Part [...]
Sara no H. said,
September 3, 2008 at 2:24 am
But Islam is not slavery – to be a servant of God, as believed by Muslims, is seen as humility and liberation of the Soul. It is to acknowledge a higher power greater than them. Unfortunately, Dust fulfills the negative stereotype that Islam is restrictive and that Allah is someone to constantly ask forgiveness from.
Sounds like they confused it with Catholicism, heh. Off to read part two – this is amazing work, and I’m glad to have been introduced to Dust via your very well-thought-out analysis
brokenmystic said,
September 3, 2008 at 2:40 am
Thanks a lot, Sara! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think of the second part
“Broken Mystic” Nominated for a Brass Crescent Award! « Broken Mystic said,
November 30, 2008 at 9:59 pm
[...] Part 1 of 2 [...]
Sunni Salim said,
December 1, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Alhamdulilah, I love the character. But believe it or not there are good Muslim men who are not radiacl or weak. It would be nice to see one in there with dust. That is another steroetype, that all Muslim are opressive or dont respect or try and harm women damn, dis is not true!
Rieya Gonzales said,
December 11, 2008 at 12:14 pm
hello,
is this published in some journal or other type of literature? this is very interesting and i want to include it in our review of related literature for our thesis if you would allow it (proper citations will be made (: ).
thank you,
rieya
Muslim Women in Comic Books – Inside Islam said,
January 8, 2009 at 5:34 pm
[...] of Muslim women I wrote about in November here on Inside Islam. Her two-part essay entitled “Female, Muslim, and Mutant” has been featured on prominent Muslim and non-Muslim blogs alike. You can find her [...]
Dreamchain said,
February 9, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Hi,
I know other people have commented on the Wolverine killing people thing, but I wanted to give you more info on comic books in general. When you say “superheroes don’t kill people” this is an attributes of /DC/ superheroes. While the Comics Code Authority forbade graphic depictions of violence (as well presenting authority figures in a negative light, homosexuals, blacks as main characters, drug use in any context, etc. etc.), and this affected Marvel as well, DC has always had the more black and white superheroes. Even in present day, DC submits their comics to the CCA, whereas Marvel broke away in 2001.
Due to the nature of comic books and the revolving door of writers, it can be hard to establish consistent behavior, but the X-Men had the same writer for 17 years, so I can say a few things about some of the older characters. Yes, Wolverine kills people. The X-Men in general are more willing to kill their adversaries. Back in the 80s, when Storm was leading the team, not only was she in favor of killing her enemies, she actually told Wolverine she was tired of just responding to threats and wanted to hunt down villains proactively, something Wolverine actually cautioned her against! During the Mutant Massacre storyline, Colossus actually killed Riptide, which shocked everyone because he was so gentle and had never killed anyone before. In the same storyline Storm also ordered Wolverine to hunt down a Marauder for interrogation, and gave him permission to kill the others. In the New Mutants, we learn via Magik’s time travel that Xavier actually killed the Shadow King upon meeting him (the guy is very, very evil), and Magik herself was willing to go as far as torturing the NM’s enemies (the incident with the Enchantress springs to mind).
Also, so far as I know, at that point in time the X-Men had a base in several major cities around the world, but it stretches logic to say they would have a base in ALL of them. Mumbai is not very far from Afghanistan; it seems completely reasonable to me that would be their closest base, most of the rest of the Muslim world is further away, in fact. And I’d put a support base in India before I would Pakistan OR Afghanistan; it has a greater population and is more influential internationally (a good location in the Muslim world would be Qatar or the UAE, I think).
Other than that, I think agree with everything you said. The depiction of women in comics always pisses me off. You should check out Claremont’s original run on the Uncanny X-Men for good female characters, as I said Storm was leading the team for most of the 80s. Other than that I don’t know where else to find them.
But, her being Muslim should NEVER be used as her distinguishing characteristic, anymore than anyone’s religion, gender, sexuality, or physical disability should be their defining trait. If a bunch of white males can all have individual traits that set them apart and make them interesting, she can be something besides the Muslim girl who wraps herself in a mattress and prays all the time. This kind of reminds me of why I hated Wolfsbane, actually. But at least she was a weak female in contrast to all the strong female characters (Mirage, Karma, Magik, even Magma) running around.
Also it sort of gripes me that Marvel has to scream their heads off that they’re being inclusive. She’d be a much more interesting character if there was nothing to obviously tell her she was Muslim; she was just badass and likable and then you find out she just happens to be a Muslim. Instead they took it almost to the most extreme end they could get in the Muslim world, so you don’t forget she’s Muslim, ever. Though again, if she had a personality beyond that, it wouldn’t matter if she was observing hijab or wearing a niqab.
Still, it IS nice to see a female character not in her underwear (or a Muslim as a hero at all). I don’t even mind if some characters walk around in their underwear–some women do dress like that–but you NEVER see men dressed as skimpily as most women are, and then they wonder why they can’t attract female audiences (or decide to do something stupid like the wedding of the Black Panther and Storm, but the racism inherent in ‘hey! These two characters both come from Africa. They must know each other!’ is way too much to get into right now).
Anyway, good blog post.
brokenmystic said,
February 9, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Dreamchain,
Thanks for reading and sharing that information about the X-Men. I know now that there are characters, mostly in the Marvel Universe, who are more willing to kill than others.
I kindly suggest that you check yourself on a couple of things though. Why shouldn’t there be an X-Men base in Afghanistan and Pakistan? It’s condescending when you say would rather see an X-Men base in India rather than the other two countries — have you even been to Afghanistan or Pakistan? One could make an argument for how Pakistan has lost more soldiers while fighting the Taliban more than any other nation in the North West Frontier. Surely, an ally of the United States could accommodate for an X-Men base. I have no argument against India having a base; my point was to show how Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan are stereotyped as opposed to non-Muslim countries like India.
Don’t forget that the hijacker of the Air-India plane was Pakistani. What’s the message here: India is less violent than Pakistan and Afghanistan because it is a non-Muslim nation? Maybe people should be reminded about the Hindu extremists in India and how over 2,000 Indian Muslims were massacred in the Gujarat riots in 2002. I’m glad “Slumdog Millionaire” briefly touched on the issue of discrimination against Muslim minorities in India.
And please refrain from the expression, “she can be something besides the Muslim girl who wraps herself in a mattress.” Um, so if you see a Muslim woman dressed like Dust, do you think she’s “wrapped up like a mattress.” As I mentioned in my post, if a woman chooses to dress that way, she deserves to be respected because that is a decision she made on her own. Such rude expressions about Muslim women only reinforce stereotypes and degrade them into “blind followers” who can’t think for themselves. I heavily criticize the practice of ENFORCING it on people, and although I think the niqaab and burqah is a cultural practice, I will still show respect for those who CHOOSE to wear it.
There’s nothing wrong with having a character who prefers to have his/her religion define her. Nightcrawler is a devout and religious character, but the difference is that Dust’s character is filled with so many cliches and stereotypes. The writers demonstrate a very weak and stereotypical understanding of Islam.
Dreamchain said,
February 9, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I didn’t mean to be condescending about Pakistan & Afghanistan not having a base. My point was basically, if you’re sticking, say, 12 bases around the world, you’d probably either want them in populated areas (if you’re trying to screen the population for mutants) or very useful cities (Tokyo, London, NYC, etc. etc.). Obviously a base in Pakistan is more useful than no base in Pakistan, but if I were looking at a population spread I’d probably stick one in Cairo or something; I wasn’t reading it in terms of who’s an ally of the US as (unless things have changed) the X-Men aren’t affiliated with the US government. My point was just that, if we assume these bases are staffed by X-trained individuals, it’s not unreasonable that 2 countries (out of hundreds) don’t happen to have a base. My comment wasn’t about India being “better” than Pakistan, just that to my knowledge it has more international connections, and I KNOW it has a bigger population.
I apologize for the mattress comment, it was an attempt at humor. No, if I see a Muslim woman dressed like Dust I generally think she looks like a ninja. It wasn’t meant to be a condescension of different cultural practices, but I also don’t feel like I can’t ever make a joke about any culture/group not my own. Anyway, it was a poor comment to make on this article and I didn’t mean any offense by it, so I’m sorry.
No, there isn’t anything wrong with a character being defined by his/her religion, but that can’t be the ONLY or primary distinguishing trait. There are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world. There are 1.0 billion Catholics in the world. There has to be a LOT of variation in these groups. I want to know about Dust as a person. What’s she like to do? What’s her favorite color? Is she a leader or a follower? Does she hate her hair? How does she feel about superhero morality? You should be able to explain a good character by personality traits, not just by classifying them in a group, hero or otherwise. To hear you tell it, Dust is a “devout Muslim girl.” Now I can say Storm reveres life, is a former pacifist who eventually decided to kill her enemies. None of that mentions or excludes Storm’s religious or spiritual beliefs, but that’s a lot more interesting to me than someone’s denomination.
YazMeen said,
March 28, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I love this they need to make this into a movie and keep it the way it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
kanya said,
July 3, 2009 at 8:17 am
Thanks guys, good info.