NOTHING LIKE STEREOTYPES
Authors Jennifer Steil, G. Willow Wilson and Nahal Tajadod hope to break down false stereotypes of Muslims
Fiona Purdon , From: The Courier-Mail , July 30, 2010

Jennifer Steil, Author of The Woman Who Fell From The Sky: My year of making news in Yemen. Source: Supplied

THE Middle East has been depicted as an arena of war, a breeding ground for terrorism and as the homeland for the Muslim faith.
Since September 11, 2001, that stereotype has been perpetuated with increasing frequency. However, three new books by women - two of them Westerners - give readers rare insider access into this setting.
Jennifer Steil's The Woman who Fell From The Sky: My year of making news in Yemen, G. Willow Wilson's The Butterfly Mosque and Nahal Tajadod's Tehran, Lipstick and Loopholes hope to erase deeply etched stereotypes with their personal stories.

"The stereotype of Yemen is as a breeding ground for terrorists and want-to-be suicide bombers but the overwhelming majority are some of the friendliest and most welcoming people I've ever met . . . they have a great curiosity about the West," Steil says.
American writers Steil and Wilson wanted to use their unique position - as females welcomed into the inner sanctum of Muslim family life - in a truthful and sensitive manner, especially when lifting the veil on the intimate world of Muslim women.
"In the West we have this conflicted way we think about Muslims," says Wilson, who writes about Egypt and Iran.
"I wanted to show real Muslim women speaking for themselves in their daily lives. Women in Egypt are so opinionated, funny and strong.
"I wanted to show that people who seem oppressed and strange are living full emotional lives. It was important to give people a complete emotional picture of a culture they don't understand."
Steil, a New York journalist, focuses on her work as Yemen Observer editor-in-chief, especially the friendships she formed with her staff, including the close bond with her female reporters.
"It was an incredible privilege to be there and for the women to confide in me, trust me and invite me into their homes," she says.
"I wanted to write about the women and the challenges they are facing because they are mostly inaccessible to everyone, especially Western male reporters.

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