Q: Sorry if you already answered this, but I came across your other channel and just watched the video where you say Mormonism is “probably one of the most sexist [religions] that I’ve come across, beside Islam.” Since you are white and have never been Muslim, could you issue an apology, or update the video with an apology in the description? I am an atheist too, but there is horrible sexism in many religions, and in secular culture as well. It’s not right to single out Islam. It’s Islamophobic.
A: You’re right, it’s not right to single out Islam. Many religions and cultures are extremely sexist and I despise them all equally. This wasn’t the intent of my statement and I apologize if it came off that way.
The video (which is kinda old and came before I learned how to be fully “PC”) is about my experience, and in my life, Islam has perpetuated more gendered violence and sexism toward the women in my life and family than mormonism ever did. Both these religions have wounded me and my loved ones deeply, much of which was on the basis of sex and gender. Just writing about this makes my heart sink. No amount of screaming “Islamophobia” will change that, and it’s actually a wonderful example of how childish and ignorant religion makes people out to be. People get so wound up in defending anti-woman, anti-gay, anti-human, piece of trash organizations that they can’t hear criticism for what it is: a human experience that is real, that is valid, that is unjust.
Yes I am white and no I am not Muslim nor have I ever been. There are certain experiences I can never speak about, such as actually being Muslim or being a person of color. I can, however, speak about my own, and to argue that I must have dark skin or have been a practicing Muslim in order for me to do so is more of the same oppressive bullshit.
I grew up in a multicultural family. My dad’s side of the family immigrated from Iran 20 years ago. My dad himself immigrated to America when he was 16. My family is Muslim on my dad’s side and Mormon on my mother’s (although my dad eventually converted to mormonism). I grew up in a climate where these two religions dominated my life in a really painful way.
I don’t owe ANYONE explanations of why I feel the way I do. I don’t need to rehash things that have hurt me and that I’ve moved on from. My feelings and experiences are perfectly valid on their own. If you want to call it “Islamophobia”, I’ll call you ignorant. This isn’t about quantifying pain, this is about my own experience with that pain. Calling that “Islamophobia” undermines what Islamophobia really is and how it operates. I fucking hate organized religion, including Islam, and all the pouting in the world won’t change that.so just because you’ve seen a specific religion harm people in your life all of a sudden means “this is one of the most sexist religions out there that i’ve come across” is a legitimate statement to make? and then she calls the people who’ve been saying she’s being islamophobic childish. yes because you totally explained all of your experiences with islam before making that video, so HOW DARE WE call you islamophobic? RELIGION MAKES PPL CHILDISH GUYS FUCK RELIGION is NOT a real critique of anything.
“to argue that I must have dark skin or have been a practicing Muslim in order for me to do so is more of the same oppressive bullshit.” OH LOOK, we’re oppressing her by saying that she shouldn’t speak about islam if she’s not a muslim herself! oh no! …
First of all, HAVING BROWN SKIN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING MUSLIM. NOTHING. CAN EVERYBODY IN THE UNIVERSE HEAR ME? BECAUSE I’M TALKING TO YOU. JUST LIKE HAVING LIGHT SKIN HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING CHRISTIAN. OR ATHEIST. OR WHAT THE FUCK EVER. CAPICHE? OKAY? CAN YOU GET THIS THROUGH YOUR HEAD?
I hate being mad at Laci, because she does some awesome shit. But this shit is not awesome. This is just shit. This is frankly, a really douchey thing to say. Isn’t religion “a human experience that is real, that is valid”? Like, are you saying that the experiences of religious people are invalid because the name of their religion has been used to justify douchebaggery? But your experiences- as a person who is not religious and has not had religious experiences, are valid enough to justify passing judgement on like, a fuckload of people who actually have? And who maybe thought they had the freedom to interpret their religions in ways that they felt were legitimate and in accord with their own informed and logical opinions? This is Islamophobia. Like, just because you lump other religions in there doesn’t make it less bad. In fact it makes it more bad. IT MAKES IT VERY LOTS AND LOTS OF BAD. When you say things like this, you are perpetuating a polarizing and dichotomous discourse that distances liberal and religious people from their atheist counterparts. We can’t afford to divide the people that are supposedly fighting for equality and understanding. THE WORDS YOU SAID ARE VERY BAD AND WARRANT AN APOLOGY BECAUSE THEY ARE HURTFUL.
Saying you hate gays because a gay guy was really douchey to you is not made better by saying you hate all the members of every other letter in LGBTQ. IT IS MADE WORSE. And you don’t then get to say it’s not homophobia because “look the bigotry is universal”.
You have the privilege of not belonging to a religion that is under attack just as much from the radical right as it is from the radical left. You do not have the right to attack people who don’t have that privilege. You are not standing up to the Powers that Be within those religions, the people that perpetuate the things you have every right to be concerned about. You are antagonizing and attacking the people that practice those religions on their own terms. You know, the people that, like, watch your videos and care about your opinions. You are delegitimizing their experiences. STOP THAT SHIT, check your privilege, and please apologize to the people you have hurt. Like, this is reasonable fucking criticism and I really hope you can eventually recognize that. If you cant, welp…
(Source: warcrimenancydrew)
