Facing Gendered Islamophobia through Social Media Activism: The Case of “Your Muslim Sisters Chitchat”

Drawing on my doctoral thesis exploring gendered Islamophobia in Italy and the depictions of Italian Muslim women, this paper focuses on the strategies of resistance of Italian Muslim women to counter Islamophobia through a case study: the “Your Muslim Sisters Chitchat” podcast, run by two young Italian Muslims. In the epistemological intention of considering Muslim women as autonomous subjects, acting independently from the discourses produced about them, this paper analyses the ways in which Muslim women resist, organize themselves and seek alternative horizons. The case of “Your Muslim Sisters Chitchat” is particularly interesting because it originates from the need of two young women to create and share content by building a network through social media. Drawing inspiration from other similar podcasts in Europe, Kawtar and Aicha have meticulously created a multi-media product: a podcast, an Instagram page, a website, and a YouTube channel. The topics they cover are also varied: from the pillars of Islam to the question of citizenship; from the experiences of converts to support during the month of Ramadan; from sexuality in the Islamic context, to terrorism in Europe. From an intersectional and postcolonial feminist perspective, the paper will first present the work of “Your Muslim Sisters”; then, it will outline the context of Italian Islam, with a focus on the gendered dimension; and finally, it will analyse the role played by counternarratives of concerned subjects about spreading Islamophobia in Italy.