Savara khan

Kelly McIntosh

FIQWS 10108

October 21, 2020         

                                                             Composition of Two Genres  

Genre 1: Newspaper article 

Rationale

     Many people that live in America don’t really understand what being a Muslim woman in today’s society is actually like. Muslims have often been the subject of inaccurate characterizations and negative stereotypes, in particular, there are many common misunderstandings surrounding a non-Muslim perspective about women in Islam. The US media has often portrayed Islam as a very oppressive religion especially towards Muslim women. To prove these accusations wrong and to bring new light to Muslim women I talked about the many misleading myths that a lot of non-Muslim people may have. I also talked about women’s rights in Islam. I mentioned this in my article to spread information about the many rights a woman in this religion gets and how she should be treated according to the religion. In this newspaper article, I had also talked about some really inspirational Muslim women that live in America and had inspired many young girls to never give up on your dreams even if you wear the hijab or even if they think it’s too hard to do. These inspirational women have not only set a positive influence on today’s society, but they also help change the different misconceptions one might have about Muslim women in Islam. I chose to write this information in a newspaper article to grab the attention of a certain audience that is educated and reads the news often because the news is one of the main reasons all these misleading information gets spread to the non-Muslim readers. To grab my audience’s attention, I used bold headlines as well as pictures to make a visual sense of what they are reading. I will use this newspaper to spread real and reliably information to these educated audience to, they can see the truth about what being a Muslim woman in Islam is really like.

Genre 2: Social Media Post 

Rationale

   Through the use of social media, one can spread information to millions of people at once. So, on my Instagram, I had created this post to spread awareness about the many Muslim women that are in America and have done remarkable things. Some of the women I promoted in my post had done amazing work and brought inspiration to the many people that support Muslim empowerment. These women have changed how people view Muslim women. They created a new and powerful face for the Muslim women community. The three inspirational women I talked about were Ilhan Omar who was born in Somalia and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12 after spending four years in a refugee camp in Kenya. On Nov. 8, she became the first Somali-American Muslim woman elected to a state legislature, with a victory in Minnesota. The second women were a Fencer named Ibtihaj Muhammad, she made history because she was the first U.S. athlete to compete at the Olympics in a hijab. The last women I posted about was Muslim activist Linda Sarsour, she was invited to be one of three women co-chairing the Women’s March on Washington. All three women have done wonderful and will inspire many of the young generations along the way. The audience I was trying to grab attention towards was the young girls in our society that don’t believe they could do something because of their hijab or even because some might not respect their religion. This just shows that you can do anything you put your mind towards, and nothing can stop you if you work hard towards your goal. To grab their attention, I had added gifs, hashtag as well as a piece of background music. I used these tools because as a person who has social media and who is on it most of the time these are the features that grab my attention and make me interested in reading the post.  

Reflection for Both Genres

  In both my genres, newspaper article, and social media post I was trying to inform people about the true meaning of what being a Muslim woman in America is all about. The different aspects that come along with these women and how they overcome these problems. While overcoming these problems these women have become inspirational to many around the world. I was aiming to go towards a specific audience for each of my genres because both had a huge meaning behind it. My newspaper article was created to provide information to an educated audience that is willing to hear the truth about what being a Muslim woman is truly about is open to change the way they see Muslim women. In this article, I talked about the myths some non-Muslim people might have towards the hijab. I also talked about the rights Muslim women have in Islam and how they should be treated. Many believe that Muslim women are oppressed and are not treated right but this is not due to religion but is due to the fact that many Muslim people mix culture with religion which creates these stereotypes. In my social media post, I was aiming towards a younger but mature audience that is still growing and are still open to understanding what a Muslim woman can actually do and how much change one can bring to their society and to the people around them. Like Ilhan Omar, Ibtihaj Muhammad, and Linda Sarsour did. These three women have done different but amazing work and inspired many along the way including me.