Expected but not accepted: Victimisation, gender, and Islamophobia in Australia

Abstract

Muslim’s women’s visibility and perceived vulnerability make them primary targets of routine Islamophobia in public spaces. This article builds on existing research on intersectionality between Islamophobia, gender, and victimisation. It offers fresh data on Islamophobia against women by analysing complaints of interpersonal hostility ( N = 73) made to the Islamophobia Register Australia between 2016 and 2017. This quantitative analysis confirms that there is much consistency between Western nations in the nature of Islamophobia directed to women. At the same time, the article brings new perspectives to our understanding of Islamophobic hostility. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of eight case studies, the article illuminates the restrictive impact that routine Islamophobia has on Muslim women’s daily lives, generating a sense of responsibility for their own safety in the absence of bystander intervention. Yet, with comparatively high levels of social capital, participants in our study did not simply acquiesce to stereotypes that deny them the status of ‘ideal’ victim. Instead, they sought to reduce the destructive impact of victimisation through active attempts to raise public awareness and reassert agency. Our study shows that Muslim women’s responses to Islamophobia are not homogeneous. This variation originates in heterogeneity between Muslim women in Western countries.

Analysing the Rhetoric of Islam Needs Reforming: Tony Abbott’s Political Discourse in Response to Terrorism in Australia

“…The first report captured 243 verified incidents that were reported from 2014 September to 2015 December (Iner et al 2017). The second report recorded 349 anti-Muslim or Islamophobic verified incidents in the years 2016 and 2017 (Iner et al 2019), while the third report recorded 247 verified incidents in the years 2018 and 2019 (Iner 2022). In Australia, the New South Wales Police Force found that religiously biased hate crimes were the largest category of recorded hate crime in NSW and Muslims are the most common victims targeted for religious hate crimes (73% of those victimised) (Iner et al 2019).…”

“…The second report recorded 349 anti-Muslim or Islamophobic verified incidents in the years 2016 and 2017 (Iner et al 2019), while the third report recorded 247 verified incidents in the years 2018 and 2019 (Iner 2022). In Australia, the New South Wales Police Force found that religiously biased hate crimes were the largest category of recorded hate crime in NSW and Muslims are the most common victims targeted for religious hate crimes (73% of those victimised) (Iner et al 2019). Given this rising issue of Islamophobia in Australia, this paper investigated the political discourse of "Islam needs reforming" and its effects on the Australian social fabric.…”

A Conceptual Framework to Map Responses to Hate Crime, Hate Incidents and Hate Speech: The Case of Australia

“…The report is based on antisemitic incidents reported to the ECAJ or other Jewish state-based organisations by targets and witnesses (Nathan, 2019). The Islamophobia Register Australia has been producing an Islamophobia Report, based on target and witness reports, since 2014 (Iner et al, 2019). During the COVID-19 pandemic, a community organisation of Asian Australians started collecting community reports of incidents of racism (Asian Australian Alliance, 2020).…”

Australian Muslims’ Visibility: The Politics of Oppression and Recognition

“…This is because visible markers of Muslimness not only identify Muslims as 'others' in sharp contrast to a secular majority, but also signify, within the public's imagination, an association with religious extremism and fundamentalism (Hussain and Bagguley 2012). This is why the religious visibility of Muslims often triggers verbal and physical forms of discrimination (Iner et al 2017;Iner et al 2019;Bonino 2015) and can lead to polarised debates and ideological contestations around the social incorporation of Muslim migrants. Indeed, in some cases, such contestations have even degenerated into calls for bans of Muslim women's veil, burqa, burkini (swimsuits), and mosque minarets in many Western countries (Cherti 2010;Amiraux 2016).…”