There are a lot ofΜύstories told about Dearborn, but rarely do they come directly from those who know the city best. Frustrated by the lack of ownership the cityβs female residents had over their own narratives, Dearborn natives Rima Fadallah and Yasmeen Kadouh launched Dearborn Girl last May. Itβs a podcast that gives Arab and Muslim women a chance to share their experiences and challenge the stereotypes that are often held about them. ΒιΆΉ·¬ΊΕ Detroit sat down with Fadallah and Kadouh to talk about mainstream feminism, female camaraderie, and why they almost never talk about men on Dearborn Girl.Μύ
ΒιΆΉ·¬ΊΕ Detroit: Why do we need something like Dearborn Girl in the year 2020?
Yasmeen Kadouh: Itβs important to instill pride in the community and in our identities. We want to create something that makes it so that we donβt have to leave our identities at the door. Something that allows us to carry them into the room and say that we are wholeheartedly ArabΜύMuslim women.Μύ
How do you define mainstream feminism?
Rima Fadallah: Yasmeen and I talk about this a lot and Iβm just going to go ahead and call out that when we talk about mainstream feminism weβre talking about white feminism. I didnβt understand intersectionality until I went to school away from Dearborn and I heard what a lot of the conversations were like in womenβs spaces, specifically white-dominated womenβs spaces. I think one of the biggest things thatβs frustrating me right now is that we donβt accept differences in values. Mainstream feminism tries to push an agenda of liberalism that looks and sounds and acts a certain way. I remember in college I heard a comment from a girl that Iβll never forget. She said, βIf you abstain from sex, youβre basically oppressed and youβre internalizing your own oppression.β Iβm not saying thatβs all white feminism stands for, but thereβs this perception of the Arab or Muslim woman who wants to be more modest as oppressed or part of a male-dominated space.Μύ
βThere is a way to be feminist that doesnβt jeopardize our personal values.β
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So, what does feminism with the Muslim community look like?
Fadallah: Within the Muslim community there is a way to be liberal and feminist that doesnβt jeopardize our personal values. Within our space [Dearborn Girl], weβve been able to discuss such raw, pressing, urgent stories. One of things that Yasmeen said that made me look at this another way is that we honestly barely talk about men. Thatβs beautiful. Thereβs so much fixation on being oppressed by the patriarchy, which is obviously a real thing. But thatβs not all feminism is and not all there is to being a Muslim or Arab woman today. Μύ
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