Muslim Girl

One of the many joys of producing our program is the frequency with which my unrecognized stereotypes get uprooted. Iman is a very successful business executive, former supermodel, married to David Bowie, very smart, passionate, a mother. Sometimes "immigrants" seem to understand our country better than we "natives" do. Talking about "the politics of beauty," led to other subjects. (I've edited the transcript for clarity.)

On Stereotypes:
I'm a Muslim and a lot of people think Muslim women are not educated. We are. And a lot of people think Muslim women would not be given opportunities, we are. And that we are thought of in our society as less than a man, that's not true. My father always told me that the sky is the limit for me and whatever I wish and desire I can get it. But, he said, for one thing never, never take less, because if you accept less, you will be less, and so in that mentality I came to the United States.

On Freedom:
If my mother said you're not going out tonight, you're not going out tonight, that was the end of it. It's not like there was a discussion about it. So I think both family and schools have totally lost control of kids. I came to this country because it's a free country and one can say what they want to say and do what they want to do. It's a free country but you can't have a free society if you don't raise the children right.

On Citizenship:
I'm a girl from a third world country. In this country, as much as one can complain about the government, and complain about the television, the alternatives are there. For God's sake, get on the internet, you can find any news you want, and the whole story. It's not like in Somalia, you know, you were lucky if you had one station. So you were so totally cut off from the world. To me, that's exactly what they're subjecting kids to, or a lot of young people in this country or old people for that matter, that they have taken the control out of their hands and they sit by the television and believe whatever that channel in front of them tells them. Nobody says change the channel for God's sake if you don't want to listen to that. Or turn it off for that matter. But there is so much that's available, it's out there if you really want it. So there is no excuse, really, there is no excuse. You can't even say it's ignorance; it's laziness.

We would be well-served to think more clearly about "citizens" and less feverishly about "immigrants." If celebrities are to dominate our culture, give me Iman, NOT Britney. Paris? Paris is a beautiful city.

Our conversation with Iman is available on the Paula Gordon website (http://www.paulagordon.com/shows/iman/index.html).