In this op-ed, American Muslim journalist Mehreen Kasana writes about the mainstream media coverage of Muslim women saying that it’s “riddled with hyperbole, stigma, and misinformation.”
She cites “three recurring issues that plague the way outlets report on Muslim women”:
“One, there is an obsession with how Muslim women look. By limiting the coverage of Islam to what I call the big Bs — beards, burkas, and bombs — mainstream media incapacitates an audience’s imagination about a people….
“The second problem with the way outlets cover Muslim women has to do with how they are constantly portrayed as victims of their culture…
“The third and final problem I noticed with the media coverage of Muslim women is homogeneity. This means that media coverage of Muslim women often reflects a lack of understanding when it comes to their cultures. Islam spans across more than 50 countries with millions upon millions of followers.”
