"But almost in all societies today the problem is rooted in our tendency to lock people who are different from us into black and white stereotypes, which diminish and limit them, and in our anger and surprise when we see that in fact real people don’t fit in such categories and stereotypes."

Isn't that the truth and the bigotry against her is coming predictably from fundamentalist Muslims and not from tolerant Americans as is evidenced by Muslim scholar Ghazal Omid who wrote "To say that she is a Muslim is inaccurate. No Muslim woman can call herself a ... Muslim and be on stage with her bikini".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rima_Fakih

Interestingly, Ms Ghazal Omid is an Iranian-Canadian author who was born in Iran. According to Wikipedia, Ghazal says she is an advocate for human and women's rights, and has written an autobiographical work entitled Living In Hell: A True Odyssey of a Woman's Struggle in Islamic Iran Against Personal and Political Forces.

For her part, Rima said she regarded herself as American first and why wouldn't she? She was quoted as saying that she and her family are Muslims and respect the religion, but they may not be as strict as many people and do not define themselves by their religion. Good for her!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rima_Fakih

Full marks to the US where freedom and choice are more than words.

Muslim women in burkas are victims of oppression. Muslim women who win pole dancing competitions are victims of oppression. How can women ever hope to be happy if someone is telling them they are being oppressed no matter what they do?

All she needs to do now is a sex tape and then she can be truly liberated and celebrated.

I find it quite amazing that people would refer to one (Miss USA) who stands before the world as a living example of what a "Muslim" is NOT....would try to use her as an example of.."muslims can be hot" :)

PEOPLE can be hot... and Muslims are people.. but going by the pretty widely known Muslim custom of modesty... (in which they are way ahead of our current promiscuous, profligate and degenerate status quo).. she hardly fits ANY notion of "Muslim". I suppose (to get a bit technical) she is, according to Islamic theology "born a Muslim" but that same theology would consider her an apostate in her rather immodest attire.

Rather silly topic I think.

Good for Rima Fakih winning the title of Miss USA. Beauty Contest winners do not hold a lot of importance in my viewpoint, but it is quite an acheivement nevertheless.
I just hope no fruit-loop extremist fellow Muslim does not try to burst her little bubble, literally, because she insults Islam. I'm sure though if this were to happen, none of us could pretend to mbe shocked

Can Muslim women be hot?

Think Jordan's Queen Rania.

Think Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Travel to the Muslim countries - you're
surrounded by some of the most beautiful
women on the face of this earth.

Foxy,
<<Can Muslim women be hot? Think Ayaan Hirsi Ali.>>

Ayaan Hirsi Ali may be hot but she is definitely not a Muslim.
She is an ex-Muslim, or an apostate in the Islamic parlance, and therefore subject to the death penalty under Sharia Law.
In fact, she has lived under the threat of death since before her film partner Theo van Gogh was murdered by the Muslim Mohammed Bouyeri for "defaming" Islam with the film "Submission" that they jointly produced.
The word Islam also means submission. Funny that.
I realise that some people get confused and call people who criticise Islam racists.
So maybe you thought Ayaan Hirsi Ali was of the Muslim race.
http://ayaanhirsiali.web-log.nl/ayaanhirsiali/english/index.html

Who cares what her nationality or religion is - she's a stunner and has earned her crown! Let her enjoy her day in the sun.

Mrs Speaker...(Foxy) *Point of Order*

Ayn Hersi Ali is not a Muslim.. she is (if anything) an Atheist and definitely regarded as an "enemy of Islam" hence the many death threats on her.

She is "Somali" ...not "muslim".

Just to remind Mrs Speaker.. "Islam" is a faith...not a race.

When I was in muslim land I found a greater %age of women dressed from head to toe far more appealing than most near naked sheilas tattooed from you know where to breakfast & a fag hanging in the corner of their foul mouths.
It was a real pleasure to see the proud postures instead of the hunched, butt drawn-in poses that are becoming far too common in our society.

Did not belly dancing originate in the muslim world?

Is beauty not in the eye of the beholder?

Different societies have a different take on what is desirable in a person. I'm told in India they see being fat as attractive. Some cultures mutilate themselves and tattoo all over each other's faces to increase their physical appeal. Some cultures it might be more related to how many donkeys and goats a girl has.

One should be measured in their language when dealing with a touchy subject, for 2 reasons. Firstly, they seem like a strict lot, old fashioned even. I doubt they would like to see "hot", an old teenage euphamism for "sexy". Physically attractive... might be a better choice I think.
Secondly, they arent really tolerant toward outside comment. If you can find Salman Rushdie, ask him how he feels. The cartoonist in Denmark cannot be contacted for comment.

Can Muslim men be hot?

Can Aussie men be hot?

Can Jewish men be hot?

Can Hindu men be hot?

Can atheist men be hot?

Can MEN be hot?

Personally, I'm warm - but that's because I've got the combustion heater burning :)

On topic - I think that Rima Fakih is not only gorgeous, but could make a great poster girl for secular Muslims, not only in the USA, but in other Western countries with Muslim minorities, e.g. Australia.

individual, "... near naked sheilas tattooed from you know where to breakfast & a fag hanging in the corner of their foul mouths."

It is the behaviour (beliefs and attitude) not the form of dress. It is no different for men: four metres of extra cloth on the body doesn't make a lying, bigoted, controlling, vicious S.O.B into an upstanding, respectable, kind and caring man that you might like your daughter to team up with either.

Of course you would like your son to run a mile from the unsavoury and probably controlling women you describe too. A bikini doesn't make the woman into a skank. Nope, that took a certain environment and years of solid training.

CJ

I think that Rima is gorgeous too, but that has nothing to do with her religion and everything to do with a great genetic fortune.

Such a dumb question to ask.

Rima's achievement has been to make her religion serve her not the other way around. Now she has choice. She might have found that impossible were it not for a supportive family.

The crown she wears is symbolic of her freedom from cruel religious fundamentalism that would see her socially isolated through wearing a chaff bag over her head and unable to pursue those everyday activities and pleasures that we take so casually.

C J Morgan was right to say that Rima is "a great poster girl for secular Muslims", but much more than that she is a reminder to us to be fiercely protective of our freedom too.

Dear CJ.. I applaud your apologetic efforts for Islam :) and I will totally support you when you front up outside Preson Mosque with a large color poster of RIMA.. in bikini...and a caption "This is a gr8 Muslim woman" :) yep..I'll be beside you.. fully combat ready :) to protect you of course...u would need it.

blessings
Al

Severin,
<<Can Muslim men be hot?
Can Aussie men be hot?
Can Jewish men be hot?
Can Hindu men be hot?
Can atheist men be hot?
Can MEN be hot?>>
Who cares? Well maybe Woulfe et al.
Start up your own thread.

Boazy, I'm quite serious.

I think that the great majority of Muslims who live in Western societies will become rapidly secularised within a generation or two. Rima Fakih is a brilliant symbol of that process.

Secular followers of any religion are no problem to the societies of which they are part. It's only the fundamentalist nutters from all religions that constitute threats to the rest of us.

Trouble is the extremists regardless of religious orientation usually have a vested interest in the non-secular. I wonder if it might have anything to do with the risk of secular societies being the pathway toward a greater peace and acceptance and the loss of defence contracts.

Heavens, am I becoming a conspiracy theorist?!

Pelican

You point would be humourous if it didn't have some merit.

I don't think it is a conscious conspiracy. However, religions need to retain power over its believers, keeping people divided has been the Modus Operandi across the ages. For example, the Christians can't be right if the Jewish religion is the one single truth and so on. A concerted deliberate conspiracy is not even required for the effects of one to occur.

Just the asking of such a stupid question as "Can Muslim women be hot?" plays into division and the view of Muslim women as repressed. How can women who are subjugated remain sexual beings? Well, we are, in spite of being classed as second class citizens through out recorded history, we are still very human and have desires just as men do.

Hence my derisory point that no-one asks if men of particular religions are "hot". A point which has gone over the head of Proxy, which is to be expected given Proxy's belief systems.

Severina,
<<A point which has gone over the head of Proxy, which is to be expected given Proxy's belief systems.>>
It didn't go over my head, I just gave it its due.

CJ Morgan,
<<I think that the great majority of Muslims who live in Western societies will become rapidly secularised within a generation or two. Rima Fakih is a brilliant symbol of that process.>>
This assumes Islamic integration into its host culture.
This ignores 1400 years of the opposite trend.
On what basis do you imagine a fourteen hundred year old trend reversing itself somehow?
Isn't the opposite happening?
Aren't our universities installing Islamic prayer rooms?
Is this part of the secularisation process, or its opposite?
Isn't the Australian government seeking to ensure taxation law is sharia compliant?
Is this part of the secularisation process, or its opposite?
Aren't Australian foods becoming increasingly halal approved?
Is this part of the secularisation process, or its opposite?
Many of the convicted jihadists and would-be's arrested and imprisoned in Western countries were born in the West but reverted to fundamental Islam, often to the incomprehension of their immigrant parents.
You're not thinking,
you're wishing and hoping.

Either way, Proxy is a narrow-minded bigot who represents the worst face of Australia. Its such a shame that our wonderful country is blighted by ingrates like Proxy who have so little generosity towards their fellow human beings. Proxy has so little confidence in her own cultural identity that the emergence of even small aspects of Muslim culture leaves her feeling fearful and hostile. Its sad ... really.

Is that the same jjplug who said I was more of a danger to Australia than Benbrika et al.?
You still haven't explained why he's locked up and I'm free.
Or have you down-graded my risk profile from representing a danger to merely being a sad blight?
Why the re-appraisal?
I have another two questions for you jjplug:
Can you read?
If so, how are my views contradicted by the views of the two Muslim experts in the link below?
http://frontpagemag.com/2010/05/27/symposium-the-worlds-most-wanted-a-%e2%80%9cmoderate-islam-%e2%80%9d/

Oh its ever so easy to bait you Proxy! It makes me feel so much better to think of you frothing at the mouth whilst writing out your terse replies and anti-Muslim nonsense. Now, how did your training with Jay of Melbourne go? Did he teach you useful propaganda tricks with which to lure impressionable people over to the side of paranoia, fear and hatred? From what I've read on the other threads people just seem to ignore you.

For the record I think that you're harmless but worthless.