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14 the 7/7 london boMbings and british MusliM WoMen Media Representations, Mediated Realities fauzi a ahMad This chapter explores media representations of Muslims, and British Muslim women in particular, following the London bombings of July 7, 2005, and attempted bombings in London and Glasgow during June 2007. As in the period following 9/11, Muslim women, their role in Islam, and the issue of dress, received special scrutiny in the British media. I question whether those projected images of Muslim women reflect lived realities, or merely reflect a victim-based pathology of Muslim women selectively maintained by the mainstream media. Many of the issues discussed here in relation to media representations of Muslim women are not new. Just as the burqa attained a heightened symbolic and iconic quality following 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan, Muslim women, their bodies, and their dress, have become a renewed site or “abstracted category”1 for both media and political debate over the past several decades. I refer to high-profile controversies before 7/7 such as the case of Shabina Begum and her two-year high court battle to wear the jilbab (2004– 2006).2 Then came the subsequent banning of the niqab on some university campuses when this article of clothing was deemed a “security risk” following 7/7. Finally, inflammatory comments were made by Jack Straw, then leader of the House of Commons, questioning the “integration” of young Muslim women wearing the niqab. These examples highlight how Muslim women’s bodies, their apparent “victimhood,” and, ironically, their perceived threat to “British values” continue to remain a source of fascination in the media and government-led agendas. In my opinion, this “victim-focused” and pathological discourse is one that repeats simplistic “modern/Western” versus “traditional /Muslim” dichotomous frameworks. This chapter draws on the unique reflections of six British Muslim women responding to the issue of British media constructs of Muslim women, post7 /7.3 The women also addressed the manner in which these representations influenced Muslim women’s civil liberties. All these individuals, politically g r e at br i tai n 246 fauzia ahMad and socially active in Muslim organizations, have been at the front line responding to and advising the media, public sector workers, and government agencies on issues affecting Muslim women and have been providing grassroots services to various Muslim communities. Representational issues include the use of derogatory language, misrepresentations of Islam, visibility/invisibility, and Muslim women’s perceptions of their personal sense of security and safety; all are significant factors in discussing the ways Muslim women’s civil liberties have been affected by the London bombings and the ensuing fallout. One study of British Muslim responses to media coverage of 9/11 revealed how Muslim women experienced a “loss of control” of the images used to represent and portray them.4 The antiwar movement that emerged after the U.S. decision to invade Afghanistan encouraged a number of British Muslim women to become more politically and visibly active in such movements.5 Their political and social activism led some of them to become spokespersons and articulate advocates for Muslim women. Their activities challenge dominant stereotypes of Muslim women as passive, oppressed, and subjugated, but to what extent has this been recognized in the media? the london boMbings After London was named host of the 2012 Olympics, a day of celebration and national pride ensued. However, the next morning, Thursday, July 7, 2005, Londoners on their daily to commute to work experienced one of the most traumatic events since the IRA bombings in Canary Wharf in 1996. Four suicide bombers struck in central London, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770. Three bombs went off at 08:50 BST inside underground trains just outside Edgware Road and Liverpool Street stations, with one other exploding on a train traveling between King’s Cross and Russell Square. The final explosion happened about an hour later on a double-decker bus in Tavistock Square. Rolling coverage of news networks revealed the extent of the explosions and brought the realization that these were indeed the work of a coordinated terrorist attack. The walking wounded, dazed and frightened, mingled with confused crowds of commuters, as medical teams, fire crews, and police tried to contain the situation. About a week later, police confirmed what Muslims in the United Kingdom were dreading—that the bombers were indeed young British-born Muslims . The prime minister, Tony Blair, who was hosting the G8 Summit in...

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