Tabitha’s Reviews > Ayesha at Last > Status Update
Tabitha
is on page 24 of 368
Already I'm having a problem with this book. The cartoonishly evil villain, Khalid's boss, is basically a "crazy feminist" stereotype. She is offended when Khalid refuses to shake hands with her due to her gender, then goes on a long rant about how men hate women in power in the workplace. Which is true. Then she asks her subordinate to investigate him. There's an extreme lack of nuance here.
— May 30, 2020 09:42PM
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Tabitha
is on page 80 of 368
So now the best friend is bossing Ayesha around and not listening to what she wants for herself. There's genuinely only one completely likable character in this book, and that's Ayesha.
— Jun 01, 2020 05:14PM
Tabitha
is on page 78 of 368
"Among us atheists, it's still the man's job to drop to his knees."-talking about proposal. Um, no. No it's not? Does the author of this book know any atheists? Also this atheist character is blatantly talking over Ayesha's perception of fundamentalist men, which is super gross.
— Jun 01, 2020 05:06PM
Tabitha
is on page 54 of 368
The casual discrimination and marginalization Ayesha and Khalid face is much better written than Khalid's workplace discrimination. Evil Feminist Lady does attack Khalid's appearance and raises concerns that he might be a t*rrorist, which is true to life, but this is still portrayed as being rooted in her feminism, which really bothers me. Most feminists I've met are not Islamaphobes, myself included.
— May 30, 2020 10:22PM
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May 30, 2020 09:49PM
Continued: This presents feminism and Islam as diametric opposites, and feminism as wrong. Evil Feminist Lady even talks about living in Saudi Arabia and having bad experiences--which is absolutely true to life, Saudi Arabia is very discriminatory towards women. This conflict could easily be presented with nuance: Khalid has a right to practice his religion, and EFL has a right to be respected in the workplace. This initial misunderstanding should be resolved with a conversation between both parties, but instead EFL has to be presented as a crazy man-hater.
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if I'm not mistaken, IRL Muslim people in business situations often greet others regardless of gender with a hand over the heart, and not a handshake. That's a respectful gesture and an appropriate substitute. It's not appropriate to respectfully greet one gender with a handshake and in no way acknowledge the other. This isn't an exclusively Muslim problem--subtle disrespect towards women in the workplace happens in all cultures and religions. But in this book it's being presented as both endemic to Muslim men and completely justified.
