Twitter reacts to 'My Week as a Muslim' TV show

Twitter reacts to 'My Week as a Muslim' TV show
Many found the show unnecessary and being guilty of erasing the Muslim voice, notes Diana Alghoul.
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Diana Alghoul

Diana Alghoul

25 Oct, 2017
Many found the show to be perpetuating Islamophobia [The Garden Productions/Channel 4]
Britain's Channel 4 has stoked controversy with a TV programme set in the Muslim community. My Week as a Muslim aired on Monday, following a woman who described herself as being "scared of Muslims".

Katie Freeman was once a part of the Royal Air Force and now works as a healthcare assistant in the NHS.

The 42-year-old lives in Cheshire, where she rarely mixes with non-white people, and was vocal about her reservations towards the Muslim community.

She was once an "anti-burka activist" and said that immigration was forcing the UK to stretch itself beyond its means.

Comment: My Week as a white non-Muslim

So far, so bad. Now enter the TV producers. For the show, she was dressed up in a hijab, her skin was made darker and she was given a prosthetic nose in an attempt to make her look more "ethnic".

She spent a week living with a Muslim woman, Saima Alvi, a teacher and monther-of-five in order to deepen her understanding of the way Muslims live.

Naturally, the show sparked controversy even before it was aired, with many blasting Channel 4 for even producing such a programme.

Many found the show unnecessary and being guilty of erasing the Muslim voice.



Some had criticised the way the producers had "disguised" her to in some way or another "appear" Muslim.
The use of brown-face on Katie was one that was almost unanimously dubbed as racist.
Above all was this simple fact about the realities of Islamophobia that must not be forgotten.

But the reaction on Twitter also exposed the reasons why the conversation about race and Islamophobia is worth having in Britain:

Mostly, we just agreed with this:



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