Muslim Women
July 9, 2008
Meet “Dust,” or Sooraya Qadir, a burqa-garbed adolescent Afghan girl who has the ability, as shown in the scene above, to shape into sandstorms and tear the skin off her enemies. She has been a member of Marvel Comic’s X-Men since her first appearance in 2002 and she currently appears regularly in the “Young X-Men” comic books. In the male-dominated world of comic books, where female characters are depicted with large breasts and skimpy skin-tight (or lack of) clothing, it’s interesting to examine whether or not Dust and other Muslim super-heroines escape the sexual objectification and sexism that women often suffer in comic books. Are the Muslim women subjected to stereotypes? Are they doomed to the same fate of other female characters? Does the “male gaze” still apply? In Part 1 of this essay, these are but a few questions that we will apply to the character of Dust, and as we shall learn, the answers are fairly complex. In Part 2, we will explore other Muslim female characters where unfortunately, there is hardly any improvement.
Muslimah Media Watch: “Female, Muslim and Mutant: A Critique of Muslim Women in Comic Books,” Part One of Two
UPDATE: Part Two at Broken Mystic
