Name: Headscarves and Hymens
ISBN: 9780865478039

Mona Eltahawy

Examines the status of women in Arab countries, arguing that misogyny in the Middle East and North Africa is rampant as a result of an unfortunate mixture of cultural and religious factors, and that the women of the region must fight for their rights.

Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution

Headscarves and Hymens

Booklyn Betty | Amanda Strombeck

Rohini Anandamurugan

One of the best pieces of feminist literature I've come across. The author is unapologetic and fierce in asking for what's rightfully ours without negotiating with patriarchy. She bravely talks about everything between the political and personal, despite the grave threat it could pose for herself. 

I really wish I had found this book a decade or so earlier, when I was discovering feminism for the first time. I was so full of rage (still am!). It is incredibly heartening to read about someone else who is unapologetic about her own rage and can utilize it to make a passionate case for the movement. 

Definitely a book that I will keep passing on and will keep coming back to.

Eva Ströberg

Monicap

Morgan Thomas

Angbeen Abbas

Liz Prinz

Brynn

Mona Eltahawy is an Egyptian woman who wrote an article for Foreign Policy entitled "Why Do They Hate Us?"; "they" being Muslim men, "us" being women. The piece sparked controversy, of course, making it clear that misogyny in the Arab world is something that engages and enrages the public. In Headscarves and Hymens, Eltahawy takes her argument further. Drawing on her years as a campaigner and a commentator on women's issues in the Middle East, she explains that, since the Arab Spring began, women in the Arab world have had two revolutions to undertake: one fought with men against oppressive regimes; and another fought against an entire political and economic system that treats women in countries from Yemen and Saudi Arabia to Egypt, Tunisia and Libya as second-class citizens. Eltahawy traveled across the Middle East and North Africa, meeting women and listening to their stories. Her book is a plea for outrage and action on their behalf; it confronts the "toxic mix of culture and religion that few seem willing or able to disentangle lest they blaspheme or offend." A manifesto motivated by hope and fury in equal measure, Headscarves and Hymens is as illuminating as it is incendiary.

Headscarves and Hymens Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution

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