Activists of YA discussion

Hey! What do you know of culture misrepresentation? Have other people misunderstood your culture and said something odd about it? How do we spread awareness? Post here!

I remember reading "A Good Girl's Guide To Murder" and I was really upset. This was because Stanley Forbes said Sal is Indian, and 'Indian' men treat women as objects. Please tell that to the millions of sexual assault victims from America. I know is from a book but still aggravated me so much.
Also, I'm constantly told that I speak Indian and if people don't know I'm Indian they think Muslim. Which I am totally fine with... but they argue with me when I'm actually telling them my culture. Which is terrible.

Laasya wrote: "I remember reading "A Good Girl's Guide To Murder" and I was really upset. This was because Stanley Forbes said Sal is Indian, and 'Indian' men treat women as objects. Please tell that to the milli..."

I also hated that scene but I loved the book overall.
( I think him saying that was supposed to be portrayed as bad in the book)
It really sucks that people try to tell you what your ethnicity. I hope it gets better <33

Hi, I am Sindhi, many people think I am miser and feudal and they all think that Sindhis are all super rich through interest, bargaining and saving. But that’s not the truth, parents in Sindhi household work dang hard day and night. All through my high school, kids called out to me saying Corrupt. I can’t believe they all believe so badly in stereotypes. One other thing is that they associate Sindhis with Punjabis and Baluchi, but every culture is different. I have heard them saying there is no difference between Baluchi and Sindhi, but that’s not true, our culture differ even race I am indo Aryan of Dravidian origin and they are not. The only people who are genetically similar to my community are Gujrati and Marwari.
I think they should stop believing stereotypes and all those misconceptions about Sindhis and read books like Roots And Rituals Of Sindhis or any book of Saaz Agarwal and in fiction read Pyjamas Are Forgiving and Typically Tanya.

I completely agree with you!

Honestly, I really hate being stereo-typed just because I'm Indian. I have heard many people say I'm smart just because I'm Indian. Like ~no~, I'm so-called "smart" because I actually study.

And then everyone thinks at my school that all Indians become doctors, engineers, or lawyers. I myself want to be a doctor, but that's not the case for all Indians! Some want to be authors, some want to be artists, etc.

Hello! I’m hoping this is somewhere where I can get good answers to some of my questions. Basically, I’m writing a book, and there is a Muslim character. I’m just wondering if you are Muslim, what are some misconceptions about Muslims and/or Islam in general? Thank you!

@Emary. - When you’re a Muslim woman, people think you’re oppressed, that you’re forced to wear the hijab, that you’ll be forced to marry someone by your parents, that you have no rights etc.

There are so many misconceptions about Muslims and Islam. I guess the first one would be that women are oppressed because of having to wear a hijab. You see hijab is part of the religion. Its what identifies us women as Muslims and not christian or jewish. Another misconception that alll Arabs are Muslim and all muslims are Arabs. A lot of Arabs are christians and ofcourse there are Muslims that are arabs. A misconception that darkskinned muslims must be a convert. this misconception is something that I face everyday. As the only darkskinn in my family people find it hard to believe that I actually come from a Muslim family and not converted. Or they believe that one of my parents must be a convert. Which is honestly so stupid. Most people believe if you are a muslim your parents are very strict. Again this is false. If parents are strict it has nothing to do with religion but just with how they discipline their children but sometimes blame their religion.

Yes the Arab thing is so true! And also if you have fair skin they don’t believe you - the amount of people who asked me why my auntie was Christian. Religion has nothing to do with your ethnicity and everything to do with what you choose to believe

Exactly but what can we do? There are just some ignorant people in this world that dont wish to be educated.

Laasya wrote: "I remember reading "A Good Girl's Guide To Murder" and I was really upset. This was because Stanley Forbes said Sal is Indian, and 'Indian' men treat women as objects. Please tell that to the milli..."

I'm pretty late but yeah.. isn't it lovely when people teach you about YOUR OWN CULTURE

Emary wrote: "Hello! I’m hoping this is somewhere where I can get good answers to some of my questions. Basically, I’m writing a book, and there is a Muslim character. I’m just wondering if you are Muslim, what ..."

Not Muslim but my best friend is and she's basically my heart so here are my two cents.
These are the stereotypes not my opinion.

▪️ Muslims are terrorists. If not a literal terrorist then the men are at least too violent
▪️ In Indo Pak War, they support Pakistan in spite of being Indians and us being right. (India NEVER initiated the war and the land is legally literally ours since division). I don't know if this is helpful in the book so sorry.
▪️ Women are oppressed. 🙄
Some are forced to wear burqa but since choose it. My other friend's sisters actually just wear Western dresses.
▪️ Women are their husband's slave. 😑
▪️ Arrange marriage is MUST.
▪️ Muslims are equal to Arabs. Since when?!
▪️LOVE JIHAD. I don't know if you're aware of this term but it means that Muslims honey trap people from other religion, marry them and convert them into Muslims. A Hindu teacher in my school married a Muslim, love marriage and her parents abandoned her forever. They have to lovely children together, 25 years of sweet marriage bliss and it's still called love jihad.

Anshika wrote: "Emary wrote: "Hello! I’m hoping this is somewhere where I can get good answers to some of my questions. Basically, I’m writing a book, and there is a Muslim character. I’m just wondering if you are..."

tbh with the indo pak stuff a lot of it came from england as well, with the colonisation and stuff - then they have the nerve to teach us colonisation was good 😑
yes literally why do they think that women are slaves to their husbands? it's honestly so far from the truth
and yes NOT EVERY MUSLIM IS ARAB, NEITHER IS EVERY ARAB MUSLIM

another thing - people don't understand what jihad is
there are two types of jihad: greater and lesser

greater jihad - a personal, inward struggle, to comply with the rules of islam, a fight with one's own ego
examples - giving zakat (charity), memorising the Qur'an, work with the poor, avoid drugs/alcohol etc.

lesser jihad - the outward struggle to defend one's family, faith and country
as the name suggests, this one is less important
it was more relevant in the times of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, when muslims would be persecuted for their faith
any war that is fought in the name of islam must:
- be declared by a fair religious leader
- not be used to force people to become muslim or as an excuse to gain land/wealth
- be in a response to a threat
- be the last resort - all peaceful methods must have been tried

but of course, the media has given the jihad such negative connotations, that all anyone thinks about is terrorists 🤷🏽‍♀️

Thank you, everyone! This was so very helpful.

iamaunicornwithyellowfeet wrote: "Anshika wrote: "Emary wrote: "Hello! I’m hoping this is somewhere where I can get good answers to some of my questions. Basically, I’m writing a book, and there is a Muslim character. I’m just wond..."

ENGLAND HAS THE NERVE TO TEACH THAT COLONIZATION WAS GOOD..!
Lovely🙃

Anshika wrote: "iamaunicornwithyellowfeet wrote: "Anshika wrote: "Emary wrote: "Hello! I’m hoping this is somewhere where I can get good answers to some of my questions. Basically, I’m writing a book, and there is..."

it annoys me so much
i'm sitting in the lesson staring daggers at my teacher

iamaunicornwithyellowfeet wrote: "Anshika wrote: "iamaunicornwithyellowfeet wrote: "Anshika wrote: "Emary wrote: "Hello! I’m hoping this is somewhere where I can get good answers to some of my questions. Basically, I’m writing a bo..."

Oh no! Where are you from? Don't answer of you don't want to..
I'm from India and here History books don't say 1 good word about England lol.
History is so biased at times I don't even know what's right..!

On one hand we have England teaching it's kids that colonization was good and in the other hand we have my country who completely dismisses even the very few good things that the Britishers did in 200 years of colonization

Of course the good done by England is almost negligible in front of the bloodshed but at least it should be acknowledged. History could never be unbiased ig..

Sameer wrote: "Hi, I am Sindhi, many people think I am miser and feudal and they all think that Sindhis are all super rich through interest, bargaining and saving. But that’s not the truth, parents in Sindhi hous..."

I completely agree. Being a sindhi myself, I've faced similar problems.

I also hate how Hollywood movies represent south Asian countries, or countries from the Indian subcontinent, to be more precise. These countries are depicted to to be super duper poor and full of corrupt people and terrorists. While I won't argue with the Corrupt part, I'd like to object the "poor" representation of our countries. Not to mention, the richest man in Asia is from India. I agree that there is a lot of Poverty in here, compared to the United States, not everybody here lives in Poverty. And not everybody in here is a terrorist. Just because they belong to a certain religion or country, they don't become terrorists.

I agree, being an Indian, I mean I like Hollywood movies but I really hate how they represent Asia, especially the Indian subcontinent. All the scenes are shot in slums or poor areas of the country, creating a misconception that the whole region is poor. That is not true. It's not as developed as the United States but that doesn't mean it is drowned in poverty. Many people are economically sound, and live comfortably, and there is a lot of industrial development. It's wrong to create that kind of mindset because it's not really true.

asian kids are always shown as the "nerds" and never anything else. i liked the good place because the dude in that was STUPID and to me that was breaking stereotypes and showing them as more than what white people envision us as.

Rafia wrote: "There are so many misconceptions about Muslims and Islam. I guess the first one would be that women are oppressed because of having to wear a hijab. You see hijab is part of the religion. Its what ..."

Yeah, I hate it when people equate Muslims as Arabs. Indonesia is the country with the highest Muslim population and it's not an Arab country. Second largest is India.