" Islam "

When you think Islam you probably think ISIS and beheadings and violence and oppressed women. You probably think women are raped on the daily and mass murdering is planned. You probably think, or you may not, but you most likely think that Muslim women stay secluded and have to ask their male spouse for permission to do anything at all. This is what the media religiously spreads so, naturally, these are your first thoughts. The media has done a fabulous job of creating a one-dimensional outlook towards Islam as a religion and portraying that narrow mindset out into the public. Props.

But Muslims have elected 7 women as heads of state in Muslim-majority countries. How many female heads of state are there in the US????
As a society and in forms of mass media, certain demographics pick and choose what airs and what the rest of Americans see. Most of those limited portrayals of Islam being of Islamic extremism of female genital mutilation, ISIS, stonings, and other brutal actions. These are the only things that get views and are worthy of headlines so these are the only things Americans are exposed to in regards to the Islamic religion.

It then becomes simpler and neater to label all of Islam as a religion that promotes violence and female oppression. It's too much work to go into detail about what Islam truly is and what it means for those that aren't a part of ISIS or Al Qaeda. There is no longer a discussion about the story of three women that got stoned to death, it is now a discussion about how all Muslim-majority countries stone their women to death and thus, how Islam promotes women oppression and all Muslim Americans are violent and hate women and are probably terrorists.

There is only bigotry when it comes to Islam. We generalize one and a half billion people as one unfavorable characteristic and that is why we have conflict. Because some Americans only get fed a certain portion of the rest of the world and they assume it all to be factual and genuine. Yes there are women in Saudi Arabia that are not allowed out of their homes, yes there are women in Pakistan that have had acid spilled on their face, but this is not what Islam is. People promote violence, people promote oppression. Making facile assumptions about Islam is the last thing we as a people need. Yet it happens constantly.