Unruly Souls: The Digital Activism of Muslim and Christian Feminists

On October 3rd, the Boisi Center hosted its first guest of the school year. Kristin Peterson, an assistant professor in Boston College’s communication department, spoke to an audience of students, staff, and fellow professors about the intersectionality of women in Christian and Muslim Feminist movements across the digital world. 

The presentation and later discussion focused on the research from Peterson’s new book, Unruly Souls: The Digital Activism of Muslim and Christian Feminists. Peterson began the afternoon by explaining some images representing the purity and modesty cultures in Islam and Christianity to immediately showcase the intersection of the digitalized feminist movements. Peterson calls these voices for reform “unruly souls,” people who are not as accepting of the (in their view) toxic institutional and inherently patriarchal modesty and purity cultures. Peterson found that these activists were frustrated with their lack of agency–their concern was not necessarily the desire to reverse these practices or the values they represent, but to ensure that these practices were a matter of choice for the adherents. Therefore, Peterson understands their leaning into these digital spaces (i.e., YouTube, Instagram, etc.) as a way of advocating for agency within the ethical frameworks of their various religious communities. Peterson approached the presentation by illustrating each chapter's value of focus (e.g., purity) with an example of digital activism. For example, the audience heard about textual endorsements of purity culture such as the book, I Kissed Dating Goodbye, alongside the digital responses through rearticulated Twitter phrases like “I Kissed Straighting Goodbye'' by Matthaus Roberts. Peterson also discussed the Hijab alongside influencers that speak for chosen modesty. These latter influencers challenged what they considered unrealistic images of women in modern, modest, and pastel Muslim dress, claiming that those movements were nothing more than shallow appearance. Peterson also showcased some podcasts, such as Exvangelical, Queerology, and Truth Table. She reflected on the way these conversations use the same theological discipline to rethink the theologies used to suppress their agency. 

As the presentation shifted to a conversation, questions were raised about the industry of purity advocacy. It was noted that Christianity has effectively utilized the market to propagate a commercial purity line that permeates society–something that, at least in the United States, is missing from the Islamic counterpart. This led the group further into discussion about the connections between movements, institutions, and the association of the movements and their beliefs in sexual ethics and celibacy, that is sometimes forgotten by the secular followers and hidden in the excitement of social activism. It was clarified that many of these digital spokespeople still hold values of Muslim and Christian sexual ethics and pre-marital celibacy, but are fighting for their choice and agency within those values.