Annotated Bibliography: Arab Feminist Media Studies

Edina Pepic

Com Research 2600

9/30/2015

Arab Feminist Media Studies

I chose to critique a very controversial representation and portrayal that is very present around the world today, which is Islam and the picture society has on Arab Muslim women today. The article was written by Salan Al- Mahadin and is called “Arab Feminist Media Studies.” I thought this would be an education piece not only for me to read, but also to write about because the author presents many valid points regarding the media stereotype for Arab women and these are present day issues. The article is trying to explain to its readers how “Arab women” are stereotyped through the media to be one of two things covered wearing a burqa having only their face, hands, and feet shown, or wearing skimpy clothing, dancing, and being very sexual. Salan Al- Mahadin is trying to build gender awareness to its reads by explaining how impractical stereotypes can be.

Salan

The author explains how interesting it is to see the media go from two extreme stereotypes regarding the matter, and how the success of the soap operas proposes two questions.

“1. Why is the audience more than willing to accept open displays of physical intimacy between unmarried couples on the screen and representations of semi-clad women on Arab satellite channels? Have these representations become normal? 2. What points can be taken from the psychoanalytic theory to help explain Arab women’s positive response to these soap operas.”

Salan Al- Mahadin questions whether it is because they fantasize about a life they cannot live and explains that a major problem facing feminist media research today is that in the Arab world there is none if any psychoanalytic theory in Media