By now, everyone is likely to have read about Stacey Dooley and the BBC’s lack of educated detailing about the Islamic prayer gesture Tawhid, describing it as a ‘IS salute’ in a Panorama documentary.
Such a mistake shouldn’t have been made, raising the question of diversity in the BBC team – who evidently missed it during the edits – and why the BBC felt the need to have a white woman tell the stories of Muslim women.
Yes Stacey Dooley is a journalist, or claims to be, and should have done the adequate research about an incredibly complex and sensitive topic but what did they believe the outcome would be when they chose a white, female and non-Muslim woman to present a documentary about ‘IS Brides’?
The title itself disregards Muslim women’s individual, multi-faceted identity, instead perpetuating the white, western idea that Muslim women are docile, silent and weak.
Were there no Muslim journalists available for this documentary? Was there no one Stacey or the BBC thought of would be better suited? Did Stacey, at any point as a non-Muslim white woman, question whether it is her story to tell? This scenario is all too familiar and is tedious to watch play out over and over again.
Multiple white women who have a platform have hurt non-white women, deliberately or unintentionally, and instead of adequately attempting to fix the damage they’ve caused, they are made to look like the victims in an uncalled for witch hunt.
The Caitlin Morans, who somehow did not acknowledge the harm in stating they ‘couldn’t give a sh*t’ about the representation of women of colour in TV programmes.
The Lena Dunhams who issue a half-hearted apology without actually showing any growth or improvement, and instead op-eds and podcasts continue to discuss why they should still be treated with empathy and understanding, disregarding the countless women of colour and non-white women that Lena had hurt or damaged the integrity of.
The Alyssa Milanos, who don’t even question how a sex strike could be exclusionary to women who are not white, cisgender and heterosexual. The book events that focus and celebrate feminist literature, yet only seem to showcase white female books and seem surprised when it’s highlighted. The Rose McGowans, who lack acknowledgement of trans victims of sexual assault, particularly trans women of colour.
The BBC News press team laughably took to Twitter to aggressively state it was ‘disappointing that criticism has focused on Stacey’, and that she is an ‘experienced film maker who brings new audiences to hard hitting and sensitive documentaries’.
It absolutely astounds me – though I don’t know why anymore – that the BBC’s automatic reaction was to protect the feelings of a privileged woman who had effectively endangered an entire community of Muslim citizens. Predominantly women. How they had the audacity to be disappointed with the public for their anger.
The public, and especially Muslim people, have the right to be angry. For they are the ones at risk of violence as a result of this, particularly visibly Muslim women who are so often the victim of hate crimes.
The call to arms from other white people, some industry and some general public, jumping to defend Stacey is typical. Protect the white woman who has caused – along with her broadcasters – irreparable damage that could jeopardise countless lives of Muslim women, and Muslim people, in general.
For many who aren’t at home, prayer can sometimes happen while you’re on public transport, or in a restauraunt, especially during Ramadan when you have to be at work or on the go. It’s not brand new information to know that Muslims are harrassed and assaulted on the street regularly already – especially on public transport.
Had the BBC documentary gone out unedited, there’s a risk of Islamophobics attacking a Muslim because they’ve seen or been told that the Tawhid is a IS salut. It could have also led to someone ringing the police on an innocent Muslim minding their business and causing potential bomb scares. It sounds far fetched, but they’re not outside the barriers of what happens to Muslim, black or brown people already.
It is the white women who are given the spaces to be forgiven and empathised with, forgetting the scope of damage they’ve caused and setting non-white women further back in the race for the sake of the ‘entire feminist movement’. A feminist movement, which in its own inception, excludes non-white women – particularly black and brown – from its successes and traction. They are never held to full accountability, often forgiven and defended, and thus never actually work to become a better ally and intersectional feminist.
To be truly better we need to see an apology that isn’t aimed at evoking sympathy for how devastated they are that they’ve done this. I want to see them, and their PR team, stop scrambling to how they can salvage the situation and own their mistake. We want them to stop with tears and fully process the damage they’ve inflicted to the marginalised women they have hurt. I want immediate affirmative action that either repairs the damage or assists in never letting that damage happen again.
Most of all I want to see them extending and widening their platform to make space for the marginalised people who should have been considered and represented in the first place. In the rare occasion that these people and companies actually do say they’re sorry, they need to start showing they’re sorry. Do the work it actually takes to learn and understand why your actions have hurt marginalised people, and don’t do it again.
That means that those with this platform, be they business leaders, studios, presenters and journalists, need to to take the time to assess a project, look at the list of contributors on it – especially if explores non-white, cis or abled experiences – and question whether the right voices are representing it and how they can improve the range of voices within it. Improve your recruitment processing to fully grasp the lack of representation within your staff, and look at which people are actually receiving opportunities, because diversity doesn’t stop at just hiring minorities.
The constant coddling of white female feelings is why we find ourselves here repeatedly and why a simple apology is merely not enough. Where is the affirmative action taken to ensure this is avoided in the future? Where is the awareness of their race being a contributing factor to this blunder? While the BBC is busy protecting and defending Stacey, and every other white woman who has come before her, who is protecting the non-white women left vulnerable due to their actions?
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