Not all Muslim women who make appearances in the Western media seem to fit the stereotype of the helpless, voiceless victim. Consider Malala Yousafzai, the teenage advocate for girls’ and women’s education in Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban in October 2012. Yousafzai became a media sensation in the West after the attempted assassination. Newspaper headlines hailed her courage in the face of terrorism and her unyielding commitment to girls’ and women’s rights. Once she began to recover, the honors quickly followed. Time magazine heralded her as one of the hundred most influential people in 2013. That same year, she gave a highly publicized speech to the UN on girls’ education, met with President Obama at the White House, and received a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2014, she became the youngest person ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Intro…, loc. 517