Post 2
Culture and religion are mutually exclusive factors. What is expressed through a culture is not always dictated by the religion. Religion is timeless, and culture is constantly evolving. From both of the interviews that I conducted over this week, I learned that there was a common factor that led both Muslims to online dating. Cultural ramifications. In Muslim society, culture has made several points of discussion taboo, and dating is one of them. Culture has begun to dictate marriage laws rather than the religion that the society follows. This has ultimately become one of the reasons Muslim youth turn to online dating, because at least if it’s online “nobody can see it, and nobody can judge”.
My first friend that I interviewed chooses to online date for several reasons. One reason is because it is efficient and easier. Most dating sites and apps take your information and define your personality and proceed to match you with people with similar data. Sometimes it can work out, but if it doesn’t there is little heartbreak because you never met. It is efficient because she is one of those people who does not have much time to spend getting involved in serious relationships. Online dating is easier in this aspect because you can get to know someone without the commitment of having to go out and spend time in person.
However, her next reason is related to culture. Like many of the Muslim youth the live in the United States, she was raised here among a diversity of people and cultures. However, her culture is what prohibits her from pursuing someone outside her own. Interracial marriages are encouraged in Islam. However, that is something that Muslim culture frowns upon. This is an instance where a divide is created between culture and religion. So another reason she prefers to online date is because she can get to know someone despite their ethnicity without society watching and judging her every move.
The next person I interviewed also had similar reasons for online dating. However, he is more active on matrimonial sites rather than dating apps. Matrimonial sites are for people who are specifically looking to get married, whereas dating sites are to “get to know people for fun”. According to him, they are not as serious. He prefers matrimonial sites instead of going about getting married the traditional way because he does not want his parents to pick someone for him. However, he is less inclined to start a relationship with someone in person out of fear of it not working out and the cultural ramifications he would face from society. This is another instance where Islamic culture has given another Muslim youth a reason to online date.
While working on these interviews, one major thing I had to keep in mind was ethics, and specifically anonymity. My ethnography aims to discuss cultural taboos within the Muslim community and how they are working to push Muslim youth into un-Islamic practices. Due to the sensitivity of the topic, make sure the identities of people I interview are kept anonymous are an important aspect to this ethnography. For example, Boellstroff mentions that it is necessary to protect the identities of participants in order to avoid negative outcomes. This includes anything that may result from the interview, or from my public research.
Another ethical concern that Boellstroff mentioned was about transparency. In his reading, he mentioned that “ Providing information regarding aims and methods is necessary to establish and sustain good relations.” Transparency is something that I needed to focus on from the start to make sure my participants knew everything and felt comfortable. My transparency also led to my participants being more open and honest with me, especially because I was interviewing them about something that is not accepted in the community they are a part of.
