Thread by @monaeltahawy

This coming week marks the 10th anniversary of #Tunisia's revolution. Women will finish what the "Arab Spring" began. I said that in 2012 bbc.com/news/av/world-…

And I continue to say that in 2020 bbc.com/news/world-mid…

I have been calling for a feminist revolution in MidEast & NAfrica forever. In 2014, I made a BBC radio documentary with Gemma Newby on women & revolution with interviews with women from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Jordan bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02…

It is why I wrote Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution, in which I say as I say that a feminist revolution rises up vs the Trifecta of Misogyny: State, Street, Home because while the State oppresses all, State, Street, Home together oppress women

For the BBC documentary we made, Gemma and I went to Tunisia and Jordan. In Tunis, Lina Ben Mhenni, who died this year after a years' long struggle with Lupus, told us "freedom means all freedoms, including women's freedom, sexual freedom, individual freedom."

"When people took to the streets in Dec. 2010,it's true they were calling for employment, freedom, dignity.I think they weren't really ready to accept that freedom means all freedoms,incl women's freedom, sexual freedom, individual freedom.They're not ready for such a revolution"

Those questions and all those freedoms were the reason I wrote Why Do they Hate Us? in 2012 - the first article I wrote after the casts came off from around my arms, broken by Egyptian riot police in Nov 2011 foreignpolicy.com/2012/04/23/why…

And why I continue to ask: Why Do They Still Hate Us? which I wrote in September 2020 feministgiant.com/p/why-do-they-…

There is a part of me that wants to write 10 books about the 10th anniversary of our revolutions. There’s a part of me that wants to completely ignore the anniversaries. I will examine that tension and why the feminist revolution will liberate us all 👇🏽 feministgiant.com/p/coming-soon?…

“Until the rage shifts from the oppressors in our presidential palaces to the oppressors on our street corners and in our homes, our revolution has not even begun.”

I call that the Trifecta of Misogyny: State, Street, Home. I wrote about it in my 2015 book #HeadscarvesAndHymens

While the battle in #Egypt between Islamists & military rulers gets the most coverage, it’s not the fiercest battle. The battle that will determine our true freedom is the one against vs all forms of patriarchy. Unless women are free, no one is free

“The real battle, the one that determines whether #Egypt frees itself of authoritarianism, 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.” #HeadscarvesAndHymens