Muslim Girl World

nice....great find! im tired of our women and girls being told that they are oppressed!

great, story lauren!

Excellent - it shows Americans not all Muslims are radicals out to kill us - fight the propaganda.

nice work Lauren...I like it!

Current - Put this on TV! It is so essential that ignorant stereotypes about Islam and Islamic women be transcended in order for Americans (even those who are liberal and intelligent) to have a more informed understanding of the Muslim female identity!

agreed....but americans are stupid. so they wont listen anyways!

but great job!

Fox news does it again huh?!

Don't say that! It's exactly that kind of attitude that creates dichotomous opposition between Americans and Muslims

dont say that americans wont listen? you and i both know that that is true. america cant even get past the race issues that we all know is ridiculous!!

now with everything america sees is negative about islam, you think americans in general are intelligent enough to decipher anything? you have to know that for yourself!! wishful thinking is one thing, but as a muslim myself, no i dont have the faith. I know more about my faith than most people, and whats depicted is just laughable at best!

i know how islamic women are, america could care less about islamic women. they think all muslim women are from iran, or afghanistan. and when there is a positive look or information that is produced...they say, well thats the exception..."the faith" still oppresses. no its the followers that oppress....the faith oppresses all equally!

I think it sounds like a nice mag. I do agree with you Okinawanmajik, that Faith oppresses all, but not equally though. Some religions expect and want more from you than others. I guess depends how deep you are in that religion.
Regarding the "race issue" I think thats a card that people like to play. How can we "get over it" if its always being thrown in our face?

well thats my point...we "get over it" by finally getting it out in the air and rendering it ridiculous! honestly...if i were president, id say in a speech, our nation is tired of this BS...so for one week. all the senate, the house, and all american schools need to deal with this. close the markets and everything...make it a final once and for all event...then after that its done. cant go back. muslims wont have that benifit because we are the people de jour to hate! its easy to hate us because we are different.....we are told we hate the jews..we dont....we are at odds with the isreali gov...but not jews..our faiths are the same....its ignorance that keeps people apart, and the unwillingness of america to address their real hangups. americans would rather be wrong and hate you, than be shown that they are wrong and learn to like you.

america wants more adversaries than friends

TO: okinawanmajik, KInd of negative about americans ? Race and religion are problems everywhere. I just hope that the forward thinking women at Muslim girl magizine don't hire any negitive people like yourself. e

bro, look out the window. its not negativity, its obervations. its like saying racism doesnt exist. even though i want it to dissappear. because i notice it experience it, acknowledge its existance...that mean im negative? naw bro. my eyes work. as a muslim, i go places and hear shit all the time. i just speak up. i dont just let it go. i call people out on it. and in america...its systemic.

if you are alive you know it. dont think i like it, i hate it...but i defend my faiths good and detest the followers that make it bad all the time...i talk about whats good about african americans and what i hate about our trends and value systems.....i look at it both ways. trust me...more black people get ma at me for talking about black people than others do.

but its all good son. im trying to find out how to get a subscription for my lil girl. she would love this mag.

I love this - I am not Muslim or even religious, but the idea of taking a real girl and putting her in the magazine is sooo much healthier than airbrushing starving models on magazines and holding THEM up for girls to wanna be like. Thanks, Lauren for putting this together!

Great mag, hope it goes well.
I would have liked to see some information about how well the museum is going as a business; how long has it been going?
Is the audience growing?
Does the magazine need to be subsidised, if so is the funding entity in for the long haul?
It might sound like dry information, but that's the information that will let the audience know whether the magazine will be around and substantive enough to make a difference.

interesting questions ferguspitt

interesting story, i would like to see more footage from the photo shoot, or b-roll related to the operation of the magazine.

cant wait to see the next pod.

You may be aware of this link...
I think it's a lot related to your pod

http://it.youtube.com/user/QueenRania

In a world of many, differences are what make us unique.

Good, work !

Is this the muslim modern version of cosmo or what? although I think I appreciate the generally positive sentiment of this publication, my initial reaction is that this is kind of gimmicky propaganda campaign with a little "attitude" (perhaps?). Effectively "hype." Rather, they should be focusing on showing the *overseas* *radical* *muslims* what's up with "real" muslims (as their feature writer Tamkanat Naveed somewhat cockily states in regards to "Americans")...that might better serve to help the American perception quite a bit better. My bet is that most Americans likely *already* favor the American counterpart of the muslim world in stark contrast to what we experience and know to be the truth in "other" parts of the world. Their attitude should be turned on the radicals who make things worse in the practice of their religion. To me, this is just as effectively a recruiting/marketing tool as it is supposedly meant to be something that "dispels" the myths about 'moo-slum" women in particular...

This is a huge step forward in bridging the gap between America and the Muslim faith.

granted there may be some things to like about the style of the mag but "...a huge step...bridging...America and the Muslim faith"??? boy that's a heapa lauding shite. =D

but maybe we should convert on the basis of a hyped up magazine before the *real* fundamentalists kill us all and probably the girls they'd see in this magazine too for being little more than "Westernized" posers in their Muslim view =D or is that just another unfounded, unfair "American stereotype" that bears little note since these women don't face the horrors of the real Muslim world?

In any case, I think that's quite some purported "remedy" there. but...more hype...more hype! please please! i can't get enough =D lol the enthusiasm of it could take the world by storm and maybe somehow these modernized Muslim women redefining themselves in light of themselves might not have to face fundamentalist murderers like their middle eastern counterparts...cuz no! no! those aren't the REAL muslims...not by a LONG shot... =)

I guess yall got me and most of America too. =D

I really like this pod becuase I think it gives light to topic that is not brought up enough.

Anything that shows Muslims as more than terrorists, gets my vote.

though i kinda feel some of what echoz is saying... i also feel like a magazine full of fashion and style and marketing (as potenitally insiduous as it can be) is also a way to potentially show the world different sides of cultures - it could be another form of using the masters tools to your advantage...

echoz I understand your concern about showing what the radical muslims are up , but I dont think that what the mag is really ste up for. I dont believe that the radical muslim is the majority in any way, but they are the most vocal , just like the Irish Prodestant against the catholic and the catholics during the crusades each lasting more than a hundred years hate and religion will go on and on unless one of the factions commits total genocide.

oh please you don't just cough at these guys from the comfort of your couch while you catch up on the latest Muslim "poster girl" telling you she's the REAL face of Islam with attitude. These guys aren't just vocal, they're extremely well-funded taking on the major super-power militaries of the world. it's not just a small sect. the faithful flock to serve in the name of "Allah" and because they HATE the U.S. That's practically a tenet of the faith over there. I'd only content that because they'd claim to change the perception of Americans, as if we can't see clearly enough that they might require a reality check for the attitude.

I understand people might wanna believe what they only wanna believe (even if it's sugar-coated) because this is America after all, but this??? *this* smacks of a fad with all the fanfare any launching publication could freakn hope for. Jarrat is right...at BEST this is little more than fashion style and marketing ofr all it's insidiousness wrapped like a taco bell burrito and called "moo-slum".

Challenge the American perspective??? yeah right. for a reality check, check out the middle east! it's not quite the picture this magazine paints for usurping freewheeling we're-the-"REAL"-face-of-Islam "muslims." lol =D You say those aren't Muslims over there? Implying they're just somehow an insignificant "segment" of the population over there??? tsk that's bs and I'm sure they'd even die to beg to differ. They might even ask wtf you're doing in the U.S. if you're Muslim. I'm confident it's quite a bit more pervasive than what this magazine would attempt to make light of perhaps with a prettier picture...otherwise Iraq would be as peaceful as a walk in the park. and we all know it's not. but hehe...don't blind yourself for my sake! i'd only caution you, if these "Muslim" women were to strut their stuff as "confidently" and as "safely" as they think to (and do) in this mag HERE...OVER THERE...you can dam sure bet (I would) sooner or later these self-described "Muslims" would/will surely vanish...and no one would see them again unless it's to set some gory example that extremism closely follows the expression of that faith. It's ugly but it is the truth.

Call these ones "modernized" Muslims if you want, i don't care how much make-up you put on it (or don't...) but don't pretend these women are somehow more representative of their middle-eastern counterparts. I'd wager in the middle east *THEY'd* be considered the splitting "sect" ...and definitely a WESTERNIZED "version" at best. my only contention remains that if they (slightly-to-smugly) wish to challenge American perceptions as they state with the implication that we've got it all wrong, they need to get off their "magic" little carpet ride first.

Muslim women care about style just as much as any other woman.

=D well I wouldn't argue that "little" fact, but surely not as much as virtually "any other woman" especially those in the West. what of propriety, after all??? =P ...your smile is wonderfully disarming! (Certainly, no disrespect meant!) ...but I do wonder, how many pairs of shoes do you own??? =P hehe

Wow Echoz you scare the crap out of me. Do I sound like that when I rant? I really hope I don’t. Anways did I think this magazine is groundbreaking? No. it’s a magazine for American Muslims, wow I had no idea there were American Muslims(Sarcasm). It’s going to have the same effect as BET, its going to make someone money and in the process is going to piss off a lot of racist white people. It’s claim to fame is the first American magazine for Muslim women, it’s a miniscule step. It should be noted but not held on high to rub in peoples faces. That will just piss people off. You want to change things in this world start a dialogue with the youth. Okinawanmajik pay attention cause I’m talking to you. Don’t pass on that hate to your children. Yeah I know it sucks that people are racist. I know I’m an irish/german/Indian/African American that looks like he’s Spanish, I know all about racism. Trust in the kindness of your kids, instill in them a reasoned outlook of the world. Let them expand on that reasoning and pass it on to their kids. Don’t be such a haughty ass, tell it like it is but spare the hate. I can say this with conviction because I can go from the hills of the Carolina’s to the roughest streets in Miami and no one can say a god damn thing to me. Only the ignorant fail to get me and I’m content with that.

=D "scaring Ricky" wha? wha I do now??? well take a deep breath, cuz your sarcasm is off target too bro. i already stated it's little more than marketing for Westernized Muslims...you're preaching to the choir and don't know it I guess. =D it's the editors/publishers/whatever that make the claim to challenge American perceptions about Islam...I'm callin' 'em on it..."a little" anyway =P

and I don't think Okinawa' is a "haughty ass" =) He's trying to get a subscription! =D Let that man be!

Hey Keanu Reeves I’m not your bro, all I was trying to do was expand on that portion of a point you were trying to make. The difference between you and I is simple. When you heard Muslim you immediately went on a tirade about terrorists. When I heard the word Muslim I made a comment about the racial divide within the United States. Sounds to me like you need to read this magazine more than anyone else cause obviously don’t get the point they’re trying to make. You’re a douche BRO, stop giving out advice because you’re the one that needs it.

I wanted to continue my subscription to this magazine. Most of the articles were pretty interesting until I got the fashion magazine.

Most of the girls are not covered properly, and have tons of makeup, tight clothes etc. What image is this projecting for young girls?

It looks the same as any other fashion magazine glitzed with all these perfect looking woman that look like high fashion models. Where is the modesty?

I know of some of the writers and I beleive one came from Mi?