• Culture
    Culture
    Filipino actors Bridgerton

    Get to know the Filipino actors in ‘Bridgerton’

    pura luka vega chappell roan church

    Matched her freak! Pura Luka Vega performs Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ at ‘Church’

    AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

    AI and deepfake porn is a form of sexual assault—and we need to talk about it

    • Women
    • Queer
    • Politics
    • Environment
    • Food
  • Style
    Style
    Pond's serums

    These night serums are your new solutions for radiant, glowing skin

    5 original Filipino fragrance brands to check out

    5 original Filipino fragrance brands to check out

    Here’s where you can get unique, one-off accessories—designed by you

    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Space
    • Shopping
  • Entertainment
    Entertainment
    Filipino actors Bridgerton

    Get to know the Filipino actors in ‘Bridgerton’

    pura luka vega chappell roan church

    Matched her freak! Pura Luka Vega performs Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ at ‘Church’

    charlie’s angels totally spies!

    Our favorite onscreen spies, from Austin Powers to ‘Totally Spies!’

    • Celebrities
    • TV & Movies
    • Music
  • Life+Money
    Life+Money
    Single woman adopts baby

    Forming a family: When a single woman adopts a baby

    painting of baby

    A mother-to-be’s survival guide

    Navigating a friend breakup that has no bad blood

    It’s no one’s fault: When a friendship naturally runs its course

    • Career & Money
    • Parenting & Relationships
    • Sex & Health
    • Astrology
    • Travel
  • Inquirer.net
  • Lifestyle
Reading
This display of racism and misogyny against a Muslim woman is disgusting
ShareTweet
In CultureFeminismPreen
2 min read

This display of racism and misogyny against a Muslim woman is disgusting

By Jacqueline Ariason September 1, 2018
Share

We live in a world of fear and hate, so much that a young Muslim woman in the US was forced to show her bloodied sanitary napkin to airport security. It was part of a thorough pat-down, they claimed. No, that is discriminating, misogynistic, and bordering on sexual harassment.

As reported by Huffington Post, 27-year-old Harvard graduate student Zainab Merchant was about to travel from Boston to Washington D.C. when the incident happened. She had prepared herself to be pulled aside by Transportation Security Administration officers for inspections and screenings due to her ethnicity and religion. What she didn’t expect was being told that they needed “a deeper look” after patting down Zainab’s groin area to see if she’d brought any contraband.

Zainab refused, saying that she had her period and was wearing a pad. However, she was told that officers would intervene if she didn’t comply with the TSA. She was told to go to a private room and wasn’t even allowed to call her lawyer to assist her. She pulled down her pants and underwear to show the pad to the officers. When she asked for their IDs and badge numbers, they reportedly covered their badges and walked away—like they didn’t intrude on someone’s privacy.

This also isn’t the first wherein Zainab was subjected to “intrusive, humiliating searches.” As of writing, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a formal complaint with the Department of Homeland Security in behalf of Zainab.

This is an example of extreme racial profiling in the US, as well as a disgusting act against a woman. We can’t imagine how scary it must’ve been for her to be alone in a room with two men who can pin her down in an instant if she doesn’t do as she’s told.

If she were a man, she probably wouldn’t be told to pull her pants down in a private room. More so if she was white. She wouldn’t be inspected longer than other people because of her race if that was the case.

The knee-jerk response that all Muslims are dangerous should stop regardless of where you are. Just so you remember, several shooting incidents that happened in the US were initiated by white Americans but you don’t hear people calling them terrorists because they’re the “superior race.” But if it was an Arab or even a Latino, people don’t mince their words one bit.

This type of racism and discrimination affects all people under that race and religion. If this doesn’t stop, more will suffer, especially women like Zainab who are being deprived of the right to defend themselves. We must do better and we must help others seek out the justice they deserve.

 

Art by Marian Hukom

For the latest in culture, fashion, beauty, and celebrities, subscribe to our weekly newsletter here  

Follow Preen on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Viber

Related stories:
How NOT to deal with someone on their period
An ex-employee is calling out a luxury house for racism
This nail polish brand launched a collection for Muslim women
In this country, girls die because of their periods

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0

Action Required!

We embed Facebook Comments plugin to allow you to leave comment at our website using your Facebook account. It may collects your IP address, your web browser User Agent, store and retrieve cookies on your browser, embed additional tracking, and monitor your interaction with the commenting interface, including correlating your Facebook account with whatever action you take within the interface (such as “liking” someone’s comment, replying to other comments), if you are logged into Facebook. For more information about how this data may be used, please see Facebook’s data privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

Accept    Decline

Tags
Airportdiscriminationfeminismmisogynyracism

Subscribe to our newsletter

Stay in the loop


By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

ShareTweetEmailShare
Jacqueline Arias

Peek This

OMNIBUS 2025: A Festival For All

OMNIBUS 2025: A festival for all

Pond's serums

These night serums are your new solutions for radiant, glowing skin

Filipino actors Bridgerton

Get to know the Filipino actors in ‘Bridgerton’

pura luka vega chappell roan church

Matched her freak! Pura Luka Vega performs Chappell Roan’s ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ at ‘Church’

Preen.ph © 2020. Hinge Inquirer Publications, Inc.
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • HOME
  • ARCHIVES
  • ABOUT US
  • CONTACT US
  • ADVERTISE WITH US
Previous
Life is like writing long, meaningful paragraphs
Next
Camille Co celebrated her engagement in a Family Mart and a ramen place
  • Culture
    • Women
    • Queer
    • Politics
    • Environment
    • Food
  • Style
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
    • Space
    • Shopping
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrities
    • TV & Movies
    • Music
  • Life+Money
    • Career & Money
    • Parenting & Relationships
    • Sex & Health
    • Astrology
    • Travel
  • Inquirer.net
  • Lifestyle
  • Subscribe
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Search
Start typing to see results or hit ESC to close
fashion fashion news music Culture News movies
See all results

Subscribe to our newsletter

Stay in the loop


By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.