Over
the last decade, Muslim women's garb and Muslim women’s freedom have been the
focus of public attention either in Western media or our own country.
Characterizations of Muslim women as '”oppressed,” ”ignorant,” “submissive” and
“uneducated” are rampant in the Western media. There is a significant role of
technology in changing negative stereotypes upon Muslim woman. What is
specifically damaging about stereotypes involving Muslim women is these
stereotypes have the potential to limit their activity in various career
fields, as well as lead to a perpetuation of loss of rights in education, work
and even the rights over one's own body. There is no problem more systemic than
stereotypes, so there is a large hope that technological advances will be able
to address this issue.
Behind
all the programs involving a technology such as Facebok, blogs, twitter and
YouTube reports are individuals who chose to make a difference. One of technological
mechanism that allowed for a change in stereotypes is blogging. Blogs have
allowed Muslim women to address groups without fear of misrepresentation due to
stereotypes. A rapid increase in blogs and media watch sites have occurred. For
instance, Fatemah Fakhraie, the founder of Muslimah Media Watch (MMW) has made
significant strides in this field. She says that her reason for starting the
blog was that she was "uncomfortable with the mainstream media's tendency
to portray Muslim women as either 'exotic sex slave, oppressed women, or
dangerous terrorists.'" As such, she established the Website as a method
with which to tackle one-dimensional and misleading representations of Muslimah in media sources.
Muslim
women should take the matter into their own hands. As noted, several
individuals have come up with remarkable ideas and literally have taken the
problems into their own hands. From such actions, problems have begun to ease.
Sexual harassment is being reduced. Stereotypes are being broken. In the end,
technology is an aid to change, but it is only the individual who has the
ability to make that change.
Muslimah: Muslim women
Refference: Muslimah Media Watch, from
http://muslimahmediawatch.orgKarya :
Noor Azila Binti Johari
Timbalan Lujnah Penerbitan & Informasi Kelab Iqra' sesi 2012/2013