Muslim Women: A Brief Summary

Shannahan (2009) elaborates on the issues of same sex marriage among Muslim lesbian women and the double standards of men in Islam. She starts off by comparing rape of America women to Muslim women in terms of being consent to their sexualities. Although each woman has the right to say yes or no, laws has been used to disproportionally neglect their rights while protecting the negative characteristic of sexual autonomy. Shannahan (2009) believed that the reason of preventing Muslim lesbian women from the oppression of their men in the world of sexual choice is solemnly done to strip away any power of sexual rights they may hold by passing their bodies and rights into the hands of the men. Throughout her study, she claims that gender equality intersects with the human rights of both men and women at the discussion issue of sexual rights …show more content…
The study focused on individuals who had a chance for reconciliation between their sexual identity and religion, whether or not they are comfortable with identifying as a lesbian Muslim. Muslims who identified as lesbians, gay, bisexual, and transgendered were used specifically in the research. Shannahan (2009) specified that a qualitative data was gathered of questioners which include: 20 self identified LGBTQ Muslims, eight interviews of three lesbians, three gay men and two transgendered individuals. The data indicated that the entire sample groups were born non-heterosexual in the UK. Most were single, full time students and full time employees. Shannahan (2009) found out that the participants revealed a different understanding of their sexuality and how the Islam religion is enforced upon them. Many said they were unable to identify as Muslim lesbians but were able to control what they did with their sexualities representing part of Allah’s plan, which supported their sexual desire and