My Body Is My Own Business by Naheed Mustafa Review

My Body Is My Own Business 

By Naheed Mustafa

Naheed Mustafa

On the opening paragraph the author starts strong with two very important and popular stereotypes. These stereotypes are those surrounding the general Muslim community and also Muslim women... Terrorism and oppression. 

 Women that are Muslim typically wear a head garment that covers all the way down to the throat. With that being said, the female speaker talks about the stares that she receives in public. Furthermore, she reiterated the title by making the bold statement about her body being her onw business. As a woman, regardless of not being Muslim, I can generally relate to the stares and judgements by other people about the appearance of my body and the clothes that I wear. 

In my time in China, I met many people. Many of those persons were of the Muslim religion. Majority of the Muslim women that I met wore hijabs all the time and they got many stares from persons, including myself. I had never seen a hijab before in person. I got over that very quickly but there were many Chinese that would stare and comment all the time. The illustration helped to open my eyes and mind towards the thought process that a Muslim woman might love. 

A woman wearing a Hijab

In the modern Muslim culture, the young women/ young adults have began to move toward the women being empowered and having the ultimate control over their bodies. That's what the hijab is about. Furthermore, with the beauty standards in the world, especially the western culture the speakers observes that it is quite contrived. She has not always worn a hijab and decided to take that control over her life. Additionally, she is of the opinion that their worth is proportional to their worth and that this is a form of oppression. One in which she chooses to reject. why? Before the hijab she was just a regular girl, living by the Canadian/ Western beauty standards. With this she became bulimic, spending a lot of money to weight loss concoctions, living an extremely unhealthy lifestyle. 

 The one thing I disagree with is the statement that was made about women self objectifying themselves. No I don't believe that women should be out showing their breast with the mindset that they are fighting for freedom, but, just like the speakers body is her business so is theirs. Both men and women post pictures that can be seen as objective or distasteful. That does not mean they are fight for or against the cause. Just that you comfort and their comfort are not the same.

Regardless of this, I found this entire work to be very interesting and inciteful. She spoke from a perspective of a person that has been on both sides. Due to her experiences she made a choice, one that she was judged for. She did what she thought was best for her and i respect her for that. So many of us do not know when to say no or just go along with the crowd instead of making the best decision for ourselves. She clearly had a hard time prior and regardless of if i agree or not, I am proud of her for making the change.