Repicturing Modern Muslim Women

Collections / Our Collections
Muslim Girl
896589056
Claudia Marks
Jul 27, 2018

MuslimGirl.com is rapidly becoming one of the most influential voices in the media landscape. With its tens of thousands of followers across its social networks and over 1.7 million visitors to its website over the last year, the online platform has become a leader in reshaping the perceptions around Muslims and creating an open dialogue about Islam in today’s society.  As if that’s not impressive enough, author and tech entrepreneur Amani Al‑Khatahtbeh founded MuslimGirl.com when she was just 17.

“(Al‑Khatahtbeh) was fed up with the misleading misconceptions surrounding Islam — the way the news coverage and media outlets kept skewing the image of Muslims into a nasty one; the mistrust, racism, and flat‑out hatred that the inaccuracies flamed; the muting of young Muslim voices from mainstream society; and the resulting disillusionment that young Muslims suffer about their religion in the tornado of it all.”—MuslimGirl.com

In each photo, they are portrayed as the protagonist to project and normalize a modern view of Muslim women today.

At Getty Images, we understand the essential role that imagery plays in changing perceptions, which is why it was only natural for us to team up with MuslimGirl.com to help support their efforts.  In our exclusive partnership, we worked with MuslimGirl.com to develop creative images available for commercial use to encourage a more positive depiction of Muslim women.

“One thing that we launched last year is our Getty Images partnership and that's something that I take great pride in,” Amani said in a recent CNN World interview. “It's crazy to imagine how something as simple as the availability of visual imagery can impact the way that we view an entire group of people, especially in today's digital age.”

The collection features images of girls with and without a hijab, shown doing everyday activities at home, with friends, and in the workplace, and their style and strength is front and center.  In each photo, they are portrayed as the protagonist to project and normalize a modern view of Muslim women today.


"We’re living in a time where imagery is the most widely spoken, universally understood global language. We’re communicating in gifs, memes, emojis, Bitmojis, taking selfies and Boomerangs, all to express who we are relative to the world. At Getty Images, we understand the important role we play here as providers of visual content. It’s never been more critical to ensure we are producing and promoting a visual language that is inclusive, while also supporting diverse voices in doing so," says Tristen Norman, Getty Images Creative Planning Manager. "Positive, authentically representative imagery can have a direct impact on inciting change and dismantling negative stereotypes about marginalized communities. We’re proud to partner with MuslimGirl.com in an effort to restore balance in our media landscape and help bring the visual stories of young Muslim women to the world." 

History Can Tell Us a Lot About Stereotypes