CCMW Muslim Women Scholars Series: August Edition

Talking Back From the Margins: Islam in the Lives of Sexually & Gender Diverse Muslim Women

Presenter: Maryam Khan, PhD

Abstract: Within the diasporic Muslim communities in Canada and the U.S., there exist certain pervasive hegemonic normative discourses that situate sexually and gender diverse Muslim women as ‘outside’ the folds of Islam and authentic ‘Muslimness’.  For example, such normative discourses construct Lesbian, Bisexual, Trans, and Queer (LBTQ) Muslim women as sinful, deviant, un-Islamic, and influenced by the West. When left unchallenged, these discourses create ‘othering’ of LBTQ Muslim women; situate Islam as inherently transphobic and homophobic; and ignore that Islam is not a monolith and not a static tradition. Furthermore, these discourses fracture familial, cultural, religious, social, political, and ethnic ties that LBTQ Muslim women have with their communities of belonging, which are needed for survival in the growing Islamophobic, racist, and xenophobic policies and sentiments in Canada and the U.S. 

This talk will unpack some of these hegemonic discourses rampant in Muslim communities by highlighting life stories of 14 LBTQ Muslim women in Canada and the U.S. Focus will be on how the women have resisted, negotiated and live out intersections of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity and expression, religion, and spirituality amidst the aforementioned hegemonic discourses in normative Muslim and the larger LGBTQ2+ communities. Transnational and critical race feminism, intersectionality theory and an Islamic liberationist approach to gender and sexuality framed this qualitative project. The findings suggest that LBTQ Muslim women deployed specific strategies and politics to resist, subvert, and challenge homo- and hetero- norms within the Islamic tradition. Further, the women continue to maintain a strong connection to their families and Islam rather than abandoning them, and that a LBTQ Muslim women intersectional identity is not inherently antithetical to Islam. 

Maryam Khan

Maryam Khan, PhD, MSW, is an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Faculty of Social Work. She has over ten years of clinical experience in mental health, and addictions working with children, queer youth, and adults in various interdisciplinary non-profit settings. As a qualitative and mixed methods researcher, Maryam is passionate about producing critical knowledges and working with: racialized LGBTQ individuals and communities, religious and spiritual sexual minorities, Islam and Muslim women, LGBTQ policy and education, gender variance and (dis)ability, social construction and representation of race and otherness,  sex workers, HIV/AIDS and intersectional identities of ethnic minorities. Theoretically, Maryam draws on Critical pedagogies such as: Intersectionality and standpoint feminisms, Indigenous knowledges and decolonization perspectives, transnational and critical race feminisms, Liberatory Islamic perspectives, anticolonial and postcolonial approaches to Social Work practice, education and research. Gender Pronouns: She/her/they/them.

About Muslim Women Scholars Series

The Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW) is pleased to present the Muslim Women Scholars Series. One of CCMW's strategic goals is to promote critical thinking among Muslims and non-Muslims to challenge stereotypes and assumptions about Islam, Muslim women and their families. One way of doing this is to feature the work of contemporary Muslim women scholars focusing on diverse topics related to Muslim women.

For more information or partnership opportunities, email us at events@ccmw.com