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ExMuslim Activist Speaks Out: Why She Remains Closeted After Leaving Islam
Description
One of her first public appearances unmasked, South Asian ExMuslim, Haram Doodles, recounts what it was like growing up with a life of restriction and fear from her parents, her culture, and God. She reveals the details of why and how she ultimately left Islam. Speaking out now on social media as an artist and ExMuslim Atheist, her art is a collection of haram (forbidden) doodles that advocate in solidarity with other courageous ExMuslims who’ve left Islam as a protest of Islam's strict restrictions. She tells her story to spread the word about Ex-Muslim Awareness Month this December.
Click here to watch on YouTube
Find Haram Doodles:
Twitter: https://x.com/HaramDoodles
IG: @haramdoodles
Official website: https://haramdoodles.com
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00:03:26 Haram's life growing up as a child to immigrant parents and a Muslim
00:06:21 Planting seeds of doubt with the dinosaurs
00:08:38 Haram's teen years living with cognitive dissonance and finding ways to grow socially
00:10:58 What pun*shments looked like for Haram growing up
00:11:53 Haram's anxiety about doing the wrong thing and the pressure to answer to a higher power
00:14:27 How learning about other religions gave Haram some perspective on the world
00:16:24 The differences between how men and women are treated in Islam
00:20:45 What the Quran says about women and how Haram felt about it before and after college
00:23:47 How purity culture and modesty rules in Islam are viewed as protection for women
00:27:47 Haram's experience with facing marriage early, how college allowed her to put it off, and the rules she faced around going to school
00:30:23 Religious reasoning for young women and girls getting married
00:33:31 Studying the Quran in college from a professor who was also a Muslim
00:38:01 How women inflict gender roles onto themselves under the in