Miss USA? No thanks.

I'm not rooting for the first Arab and Muslim Miss USA -- and frankly, it puzzles me that other Arab and Muslims see this as a cause to celebrate. As a disclaimer, let it be know that I am not playing into the hands of the racists fueled by their hatred of brown people, namely Daniel Pipes, Debbie Schlussel & Co. who dubbed Rima Fakih "Ms. Hizbullah USA." Nor am I on the side of the Salafis/Wahhabis and other Islamists who want to impose their patriarchal ideas of "modesty" onto Muslim women so to control their bodies.

I have few kind words for an inherently sexist phenomenon like the beauty contest, an event that places the female body on display for male consumption, strips women of their personalities, and forces unrealistic (and quite unhealthy) physical standards onto them. Nevertheless, I've seen Lebanese acquaintances react to the occasion with joy, haughtily assuring that Ms. Fakih must have won because of how "hot" and "exotic" Lebanese women are. Any positive outcomes of reducing Arab and Muslim women to exotic, sensual freaks is beyond me. It's enraging enough when Westerners have built centuries of scholarship and travel literature on this very problematic idea, and it's even more disheartening when Arabs and Muslims themselves mimic the same sentiment. Not to mention, it coalesces with a Lebanese hyper-nationalist phenomenon, which As`ad AbuKhalil (a.k.a the Angry Arab) sarcastically refers to as the "Lebanonese." The Lebanonese are essentially chauvinistic nationalists who seek to disassociate Lebanon from the rest of the Arab world, instead mythologizing Lebanon as a unique homeland for the racially superior descendants of the Phoenicians. A quick search on Angry Arab's blog can lead you to countless incidents of Lebanese racism against Palestinian refugees [1, 2, 3, 4] and Syrian migrant workers... and let's not even begin on intra-Lebanese sectarianism... or Lebanese racism against Ethiopian, Filipino and Sri Lankan indentured servants... but I digress.

If some react to Ms. Fakih's win by self-Orientalizing, others such as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) are more vocal about the perceived benefits of Ms. Fakih's win, claiming this as some sort of victory for Arab Americans. I can't deny that the ADC has done considerable work to protect civil rights for Arab Americans, though I honestly feel that the organization provides no solid political vision for Arab Americans beyond that which is deemed friendly by the establishment (see a brief, but relevant, discussion on their organizational politics here). I think the following quote by Iman Hamad, Michigan's ADC director, speaks for itself: “[Fakih's win] is historic ... This shows the greatness of America, how everyone can have a chance to make it.” Is equal opportunity sexism supposed to somehow make sexism acceptable? Do communities of color need to engage in exploitative cultural practices in order to become "American"? This is the assimilation doctrine at work.

Disappointingly, some Arab American feminists are also convinced that Miss USA will somehow inspire the American public to change its discourse on Middle Easterners and Muslims. The problem with this is that in attempting to shatter the stereotypes, they are merely reinforced. By putting ourselves on pedestals and saying, "Hey America! We're not all terrorists! We can be sexy and have your plastic ideas of beauty, too!", we are simply playing along with these problematic notions of "terrorism" as part of brown folks' inherent condition and of white beauty as supreme. Other feminists argue that it is good to finally see a beauty queen role model for our daughters and sisters who looks "like us" (i.e. not blond or white). Again, this argument is loaded with the internalized notion that women of color must objectify themselves for public performance, that their beauty must be regulated, judged, and prized by white men. Instead of spoon-feeding our young girls and women a slightly altered version of American beauty standards, why aren't we teaching them to be comfortable in their skin, hair, and bodies in the first place? Do I really need Rima Fakih's tiny body and pole-dancing to teach younger generations of women in my family to be strong, to take pride in themselves, to know that brown is indeed beautiful?

I realize that ethnic identities in the United States are not as cut-and-dry as the "assimilation/cultural purity" dichotomy assumes. Over time, I've accepted that people negotiate themselves differently. Some will deny one aspect of themselves, either through full-blown assimilation or repatriating themselves back into their home countries; some will "integrate" in the mainstream sense of the word; and some will uneasily straddle their feet between two worlds. Some will choose a path different from those mentioned, and some won't even think about identity at all. As with everything else on this blog, this is not a post about who "is" or "isn't" a feminist, a "true" Arab, or Ms. Fakih's agency (or lack thereof) in entering a beauty pageant. If Ms. Fakih wants to objectify herself in front of millions of people, be my guest - but don't assume that she necessarily represents anything positive for women of color, especially Arab or Muslim women. Whether she likes it or not, she contributes to a huge system of female exploitation deeply embedded in American culture, albeit with an olive-skinned face.