Vlogger tackles misunderstandings surrounding dating as a Muslim woman

‘Why is it so weird to see a girl that’s wearing a hijab talking about sex?’

A London-based vlogger is debunking the myths surrounding Muslim women and dating.

Asha Hussein started her YouTube channel, Asha Everyday, in 2015 and has since been giving viewers an honest insight into her life as a young Muslim woman.

“It’s not very common to find someone like me talking about relationships in a fun and light-hearted way,” the 24-year-old told Cosmopolitan.

Hussein covers a wide range of topics on her channel, which currently has 17,000 subscribers, including university life, sexual harassment and relationships, with one popular video titled: “how to deal with F boys.”

Hussein aims to demystify some of the common misconceptions surrounding Muslim women and relationships through her content.

"I think people have this view that we’re really conservative, submissive to men, not career-driven and all we want to do is get married,” she said.

“They think Muslim men control us and that we have to wear the hijab.

“It's like we don’t date at all and just wake up one day and find out we’re getting married."

One specific topic that she is keen to address on her channel is that of arranged marriages, which she stresses is very different from forced marriages.

Hussein also wants to tackle the stigma surrounding Muslim women and conversations regarding sex.

While sex might only be an option for Hussein once she’s in a marital relationship, she hopes that her videos will encourage fellow Muslim women to be more open with one another about sex, regardless of whether they’re sexually active or not.

Hussein also thinks that dating as a Muslim woman might be easier in certain regards, explaining that her non-Muslim friends are always complaining to her about relationship problems that she will never have to endure.

She’s seen some friends break up from long-term partners because one of them wanted to have children and the other didn’t.

She explained that this is something she’ll never have to deal with because, as a Muslim woman, she is dating “for the sake of marriage” and so those “hard and tough questions” are dealt with at the very beginning.

"You don’t waste any time,” she added, explaining that there is a transparency to the way she dates that she doesn’t see mirrored by her non-Muslim friends.

Her videos are very well-received, with viewers often praising Hussein for her confidence and her bubbly persona.