Less than three months after Saudi Arabia said it would permit women to participate in the London 2012 Olympic Games, it has reportedly reneged on their agreement, barring women from entering the Games.

SOCIALDIFFERENCE-ONLINE is a publication of the Center for the Critical Analysis of Social Difference at Columbia University, an advanced study center that promotes innovative interdisciplinary scholarship on the role of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and race in global dynamics of power and inequality. Jadaliyya ezine brings an interview with the editors on Women’s Rights, Muslim Family Law, and the Politics of Consent special issue, Lila Abu-Lughod and Anupama Rao.

A new university course focusing on women, Islam and media has become the first module in the UK to explore honour crimes and arranged marriage. The lectures, offered by the University of East Anglia (UEA), will begin this week, with 15 students having already enrolled. The syllabus also offers to cover veil wearing and how such Islamic traditions are portrayed across film, TV, advertising and other media.