British Muslim masculinities and cultural resistance: Kenny Glenaan and Simon Beaufoy’s Yasmin

Abstract

This paper explores the extent to which the 2004 film Yasmin challenges normative constructions of British Muslim gender identities. It argues that the female protagonist moves beyond stereotype, finally remaining open to contradiction and hinting at a British Muslim feminist subjectivity. Conversely, however, an oppositional masculine Muslim subjectivity that evades the hegemonic binary of liberal secular freedom vs Muslim repression/aggression remains a troubling absence in the film.