Why are Muslims, especially women, usually pictured covering their faces? Do these types of images in the media reinforce our stereotypes about Muslim women?
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s leading daily, is one representative of the media that reinforces stereotypes about Muslim women.
While the article is important because it talks about forced marriages, why can’t it write about the topic without stereotypes of Muslims, which in turn reinforce anti-Muslim racism?
The depictions in the media appear to go to great lengths to racialize an issue.
After writing several opinion pieces for newspapers such as Savon Sanomat, Kainuun Sanomat, Suomen Kuvalehti, Karjalainen and others, I am sometimes disappointed with the pictures that go with my story.
The most offensive story that I have ever read in Finland depicting Muslim women was by Yle in September 2018.
One of the latest cases (below) of such reporting was by the state-run Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle). The story was a poll about what different parties’ views was of migration and migrants. In the cover picture of the story, there are all the leaders of the political parties in parliament and a woman wearing a niqab. Part of the headline of the story was that only two parties would ban the “burka.” The picture with the woman wearing the niqab was later removed. Source: Yle.