The Expressions Narrative Project is a platform dedicated to the voices and perspectives of Muslim women, from activists and artists to professors and political representatives. This blog showcases personal narratives expressing Muslim women's thoughts, opinions, and lived experiences.
My ancestors were brought to this country from West Africa. Many records were destroyed or not properly maintained, so I might not be able to tell you exactly which country my family originated from, but I know that my family has been mixed race since the 1800s. That doesn’t make me any less African American.
Read MoreFrom puberty, most books, parents, and teachers prepare us to expect cramps, clots, heavy bleeding, and cycle irregularities as our womanly initiation. The messaging that “normal is whatever is normal for you” has left many of us doubled over in pain, passing out, and debilitated by our time of the month. We are taught to medicate our pain from early on, and particularly challenging periods are often met with another prescription—birth control—though used for non-contraceptive reasons. But what if we saw period pain as any other type of pain—a red flag, a warning, a call for attention? What if we treated heavy period bleeding with the urgency of a hemorrhage? How would we feel about our periods if we saw them as an indicator of our health instead of a nuisance to it?
Read MoreWhen Muslim women are empowered with the knowledge, confidence, and safe space that they need to become healthier, our entire communities become healthier. As activists, mothers, scholars, aunties, and community leaders, women play critical roles in caring for our communities. When we take care of ourselves, we can uplift all those around us.
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