Let’s Talk about Gender: Women’s Narratives of Moving Out of Islam in Contemporary Europe
Within Europe, gender and Islam have a complex and often polarised discursive history. Whilst some find only repression of women in patriarchal and religious structures, others hail Islam as the birthplace of emancipation. This article explores the experiences of women who have moved out of Islam in...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2023
|
| In: |
Religion & gender
Year: 2023, Volume: 13, Issue: 2, Pages: 227-253 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Great Britain
/ Netherlands
/ Dekonversion
/ Islam
/ Woman
/ Embodiment
/ Religious practice
/ Gender
/ History 2016-2019
|
| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AE Psychology of religion AG Religious life; material religion BJ Islam KBD Benelux countries KBF British Isles NCC Social ethics TK Recent history |
| Further subjects: | B
Deconversion
B Islam B Gender B Embodiment B Islam in Europe B ex-Muslim B former Muslims B moving out of Islam |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Within Europe, gender and Islam have a complex and often polarised discursive history. Whilst some find only repression of women in patriarchal and religious structures, others hail Islam as the birthplace of emancipation. This article explores the experiences of women who have moved out of Islam in both the Netherlands and the UK and finds that many navigate in between these narratives of suppression and liberation. The aim of this article is twofold: based on 22 life-history interviews, it firstly explores gendered experiences whilst growing up (from personal experienced inequality to observing theological or legislative problems), which may have led to various degrees of doubt or distress. It further unpacks gendered embodied experiences, such as veiling, modesty or mosque attendance as having relative importance when moving out of Islam. Secondly, this article elaborates on how these women position themselves, within religious and secular expectations of what it means to be a former Muslim woman. It explores their positionality in a polarised debate: how did they relate to the discourses of suppression and liberation, from either secular(ised) or religious environs? |
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| ISSN: | 1878-5417 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion & gender
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/18785417-01302002 |
