#UsToo: How antisemitism and Islamophobia make reporting sexual misconduct and abuse of power harder for Jewish and Muslim women

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Ever since, #MeToo has been shorthand for people’s experiences with sexual harassment and assault, from film sets and office buildings to college campuses and religious communities.

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Provider:

The Conversation

URL:

https://theconversation.com/ustoo-how-antisemitism-and-islamophobia-make-reporting-sexual-misconduct-and-abuse-of-power-harder-for-jewish-and-muslim-women-213834

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

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Geotags:

UNITED STATES, LOS ANGELES

Summary

Key Points:

Ever since, #MeToo has been shorthand for people’s experiences with sexual harassment and assault, from film sets and office buildings to college campuses and religious communities.
Many articles about #MeToo and religion focus on large churches, such as the Southern Baptist Convention – spaces that are mostly white and Christian.
These women face added challenges when they break the silence around sexual misconduct and abuse of power, as I document in my book “#UsToo.” Many Jewish and Muslim women of color navigate three kinds of oppression simultaneously: sexism, racism and antisemitism or Islamophobia.

’Dirty laundry’

This problem is not exclusive to Jewish or Muslim communities but rather a general problem for all subcultures.
Publicly airing communal “dirty laundry” is seen as precarious, both for the individual and for the ethnoreligious group.
Jewish and Muslim women in the United States are diverse, from different levels of religious observance to ethnic identity.

Risks of silence and interdependence

The insularity, sense of connection and interdependence within some minority communities can be conducive to abuses of power.
Word spread quickly in the Jewish community, and other women came out of the woodwork about his behavior.
Sacred Spaces, incorporated in 2016, is another organization that brings Jewish values to its work addressing and preventing abuse.

Walking a tightrope

Nevertheless, some Muslim women affected by sexual misconduct have been working for years to bring it out of the communal closet and into the public eye.
Many of the women I interviewed live on a tightrope: calling out the patriarchy and sexual misconduct they experienced, while defending their community against anti-Muslim stereotypes.
HEART, a sexual health and reproductive justice organization founded in 2009, offers education and resources to discuss sexual relationships and violence.
Despite this progress, many Jewish and Muslim women are still apprehensive about reporting coreligionists, as are women in larger Christian communities.