Thread by @monaeltahawy

#Jan25

#FreeEgypt

On this 9th anniversary of the #Egyptian revolution, remember:
- No revolution begins overnight
- No revolution finishes 18 days later
- No revolution will succeed without gender liberation.

An Egyptian woman from the epilogue to my 1st book on women and the revolution 👇🏽

“I want an #Egypt where my daughter can walk in the streets as free as a boy.”

For those who answer “But no one is free, men aren’t free either.”

The State oppresses everyone, yes.

But the State, the Street, & the Home TOGETHER oppress women. That’s the Trifecta of Misogyny

No revolution will succeed w/out destroying that Trifecta of Misogyny

Women are told “wait”for the sake of fidelity to the revolution.

Until the rage that targets oppressors in presidential palaces also targets oppressors in our streets & homes, the revolution hasn’t even begun

The real battle, the one that will determine whether #Egypt frees itself of authoritarianism - of the military and of the Islamists - is between patriarchy - established and upheld by the State and the Street and at Home - and women, who will no longer accept the status quo.

We will have a reckoning with our culture & religions, with military rulers & Islamists.

Such a reckoning is essentially a feminist one & it is what will eventually free us.

Women - our rage, our tenacity, our daring, our audacity - will free our countries.

#Jan25 #FreeEgypt

The above is from my first book, Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution, published in 2015. #Jan25 #Egypt