00:00Muslim women are sick of being asked whether or not we wear this in the shower, if we have
00:05an opinion on things, and whether or not our husbands, brothers, fathers, boyfriends oppress us.
00:12I'm Amani, the founder and editor-in-chief of MuslimGirl.com. I first launched MuslimGirl.com
00:18because I was sick of always being talked about but never seeing Muslim women that looked like me
00:23be the ones doing the talking. So in typical millennial fashion, I was pissed off and I went
00:29online. MuslimGirl.com is the biggest website for English-speaking Muslim women. It's a project
00:35that I launched out of my bedroom when I was in high school and it's grown to become a movement
00:40for women's empowerment. I think that by simply creating a space where Muslim women and girls can
00:46be themselves, we naturally rebranded the image of Muslim women in the media and we were able to really
00:53elevate the different narratives that make up who we really are. Even with as far as we've come over
00:57the past few years, Muslim women, Muslims, and a lot of minorities are still treated like an other.
01:04Even for those of us that literally built this country and have been here for generations,
01:08we're still treated like we don't belong here. And it's really important for us to really shift the
01:13way that we view minorities in America and recognize that actually the minorities are becoming the
01:19majority, very sure enough. And because of that, it's undeniable that we belong here and we need to shift
01:26that perception. We're in a moment right now where diversity is trending. Because of that,
01:32we're seeing more Muslim women in visible public spaces than probably ever before. There have been
01:37so many branded campaigns that feature Muslim women or women of color, for example, because they know
01:43for a fact that they'll go viral. But are those women included in the conversations about the products
01:49that are being marketed to them and how they're being marketed to them? Just as much as it's important for
01:54you to see us, it's also important for you to hear us. For example, it's so badass that we finally
02:00elected
02:01our first Muslim congresswoman. But I think it's really telling that those two Muslim congresswomen have
02:07been followed by a lot of criticism and have been put under a spotlight for every word and every move
02:14that they make. There's a huge double standard that we place on women of color and how they act and
02:19carry themselves in public spaces. Even though Muslim women and other women of color are really gaining
02:25visibility right now, it's crucial for us to be mindful of including them in the conversation.
02:31I think the best way to have more Muslim girls included in society and other girls of color
02:37is simply to pass the mic. Allow them the chance to speak and be heard. A lot of times people
02:44like to
02:45say that Muslimgirl.com is a voice for the voiceless, but we always say that everybody has a voice.
02:51It's just that some of them are more systematically silenced than others. So our role and the best
02:57thing we can do, not only as agents of change in society, but also as allies, is simply to empower
03:03those individuals to be able to find those voices and to allow them to speak up. For young Muslim women
03:10and
03:10girls out there that might be struggling in this moment that we're in, I would say that my worst fear
03:18over the past few years was that we'll be facing a reality similar to the one that I grew up
03:23in,
03:23because it was rough. And unfortunately with the current status of things, it seems like that's the
03:30moment that we're living in right now. But the difference this time is that you have us and we've been
03:36there. We've been through that and we got your back. So don't ever feel like you're alone.
