Sana Tayyen is a Lecturer of Religion at the University of Southern California. She currently holds a PhD in Religion and a master’s degree in Philosophy from Claremont Graduate University. She focuses primarily on interreligious dynamics, Muslims, Islam, and comparative theology and truth. Because of the recent election results and Donald Trump taking the win for presidency, I felt compelled to attend this lecture. Throughout her lecture, Ms. Tayyen focused on lenses: the sexual objectification of Muslim women, and the backwardness and ignorance of “othering.”
While focusing on sexual objectification, Ms. Tayyen used images to help as her proof. In the images she used, the women were depicted as beings existing solely for the pleasure and use of men. They look as though they are toys, prostitutes, and slaves. Along with these images, Ms. Tayyen used pieces of literature from Said and Bouillet to more thoroughly express how Muslim women were looked down upon. In Bouillet’s work, degraded women sexually. But not only did he do this, but he spoke about how women were not “good” at being sexual beings and that when they did try to be sexual, they had the opposite effect, efficiently claiming that women were not useful in any way.
Throughout lecturing about the the lens of backwardness and ignorance and the way in which “othering” affects not only the community, but also the psyche of the individual, Ms. Tayyen showed up clips from an American movie, Father of the Bride.
In the specific clip, there was a couple where the wife was yelled at by her husband. In reaction to this, a father and son paralleled their actions. This showed the relationship dynamics. By doing this, she showed us how we, as a nation, stereotype without even realizing it. The stereotyping is throughout media outlets and much more.
One of the most relatable lenses that Ms. Tayyen spoke about was the lens of fear. We spoke not only about the fear that American Muslims have had, but also the growth in the fear and pure terror with our upcoming president. We spoke about related public issues and the lack safety that needs to reappear within our communities. From Muslim women having to deal with stereotypes of being uneducated and willingly inferior to stares and harassment due to wearing their religious headdresses, Muslim women endure sufferings that can be avoided through public health measures.
In concluding the lecture, Ms. Tayyen spoke about the current state Muslim women are in. In France, Muslim attire is being completely unaccepted, specifically burkinis. So much so that the former French president, Nicholas Sarkozy described the women wearing burkinis as “a political act, militant, a provocation.” In our own country, women are deciding to not carry out their religious traditions due to the wrongful association between a hijab and the symbolism of terrorist and hate groups. Like racism, this is a public health concern in which positive progression can be reflected through years and years of work.
letsgettothecore 
While reading this blog post about the sexual objectification of Muslim women and the ignore of “othering”, it reminded me a lot of the film ‘Women without Men’ and our lecture in humanities core. The sexual objectification of Muslim women is a recurring theme in the movie ‘Women Without Men’, some examples being Zarrin being a prostitute and having to sell her body, Faezah being raped by two men, and Munis being forced into a marriage meeting which leads to her suicide. These scenes in the movie imply that women are only used for their bodies and that is there only purpose in life.This idea in the movie creates a stereotype that all Muslim women are oppressed in their society. This stereotype creates a feeling of “otherness” in the film and that Muslim women are different from any other women, creating an isolation from the rest of the world. The things mentioned by Ms. Tayyen in her lecture can relate a lot back to the movie studied in class. Connecting the lecture you attended and the similar ideas in our humanities class can bring a lot of the same ideas together and provide more context for each other.
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