WSF- Muslim Women and Sexuality

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

We would like to invite you to a workshop on Muslim Women and Sexuality

organised by The Muslim Women's Rights Network (India) and Safra (London). This

workshop aims to bring attention to issues of sexuality in interventions related

to Muslim Women.

Title: " Muslim Women and Sexuality " .

Date and Time: January 18th, 9am - 12 noon

Venue: D 130

The Muslim Women's Rights Network (India), a coalition of various groups working

for the rights of Muslim women in India. The Safra Project (London) is a

resource project on issues relating to lesbian, bisexual & transgender women who

identify as Muslim religiously and/or culturally. The Safra Project is not a

faith group and does not seek to promote any one belief.

As such we are proposing a workshop on Muslim Women and Sexuality. The existing

discourse on sexuality focusses on the sexuality of mainstream communities.

Often the complex strategies employed by women from marginalised communities to

express their sexuality do not feature in this discourse. Different communities

have different mechanisms for regulating and controlling women's sexualties

(purdah, child mariages, " honor " killings, etc) while women have at the same

time resisted these controls. We need a discourse which will truly appreciate

the circumstances in which women from marginalised communities find themselves.

We hope that this workshop will take into consideration the diversity of

experiences based on the the demography of nation-states, the political

formations around them, their social, historical and economic trajectories which

have influenced the way in which Muslim women's sexualites are inscribed within

state institutions and in the public imaginary. The workhsop will have

presentations on the following topics.

1. The State and Sexuality

2. Sexuality and Right wing

3. Gender & Sexual Pluralities & Muslim Women.

4. The construction of Muslim woman's body and sexuality in the Koran

Workshop process

The workshop is envisaged as a space for in depth discussion around the themes

reflected in the concept paper. Following the presentation by the speakers, we

would form small groups to ground the presentations in our local contexts and

identify points of resonance as well as contestation. The basis of the

regrouping would be the nature of the state that governs us (Muslim majority in

a democratic state, Muslim minority in democratic state, Muslim majority in a

theocratic state, Other forms of governance/from conflict situations). We hope

that this would bring out the diverse ways in which different states in the same

category respond and also identify common strands. Each group would then make a

brief presentation of the points discussed. The speakers would have some time

to respond and then the space would be opened up for discussion. We also hope

that one of the outcomes of this workshop will be an alliance of various groups

and individuals based on a common understanding of marginalisation and the need

for visibility of the struggles of marginalised groups within marginalised

groups.

PS. This is a women only workshop

In solidarity,

Hasina, for the Muslim Women's Rights Network

E-mail: <niswan@...>