Alya Mooro

“screen. As actor Riz Ahmed said on The Jonathan Ross Show:19 ‘ Black Panther isn’t just a win for black people. Crazy Rich Asians isn’t just a win for Asians. When we stretch culture, we all have more room to be ourselves. When we see a wider range of stories, we stop seeing others as others.”
― Alya Mooro, The Greater Freedom: Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes

“As women we are taught to place importance on another person, be that our husbands, our fathers, our mothers, or our extended circles. We are taught to be caregivers instead of giving that love to ourselves. We’re taught to hold our tongues and, in doing so, to suppress our own instincts and desires lest we offend or cease to be ‘loveable’. We’re taught to aspire to be desired, influencing everything from the way we dress to how we converse, whether we consciously realise it or not. We’re taught to view ourselves through the eyes of others instead of assessing our own sense of worth.”
― Alya Mooro, The Greater Freedom: Life as a Middle Eastern Woman Outside the Stereotypes