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Mona Eltahawy

20 Sep, 9 tweets, 4 min read

Once while standing in line at Denver airport security, a white man — another passenger waiting to go through — demanded I “prove” I was a U.S. citizen. “Fuck you!” was my immediate response. #WhyISayFuck feministgiant.com/p/essay-why-i-…

Another white man immediately and predictably chimed in: “Language! Language!” But what is really more offensive here, the first man’s white supremacist fuckery or my language?

If you think that’s a serious question, then fuck you too.
#WhyISayFuck

I say “fuck” because that’s what racism deserves. I am from the “If they go low, I will fucking come for them” school of thought. I refuse to be polite or civil with anyone who does not acknowledge my full humanity. #WhyISayFuck

Profanity for me is political, not just personal. Profanity is politically important.

Profanity is one of The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls. I explain #WhyISayFuck 👇🏽feministgiant.com/p/essay-why-i-…

Read my book and subscribe to FEMINIST GIANT for more "sins."

It's free - no paywall or ads.

If you can pay, it helps keep it free.

feministgiant.com

And listen to the audio essay #WhISayFuck

soundcloud.com/mona-eltahawy-…

Fuck civility.

Whether we are urged to be civil to racists or polite to patriarchy, the goal is the same: to maintain the power of the racist, to maintain the power of patriarchy. #WhyISayFuck

Profanity is an essential tool in disrupting patriarchy and its rules. It is the verbal equivalent of civil disobedience.

There is nothing polite about patriarchy. There is nothing civil about racism or misogyny.

#WhyISayFuck

feministgiant.com/p/essay-why-i-…

What would the world look like if the energy spent policing women’s language, was expended instead into policing the violence of patriarchy?

I started FEMINIST GIANT so that I wouldn't have to write "politely" about global patriarchal fuckery.

Subscribe!
feministgiant.com/p/coming-soon?…

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More from @monaeltahawy

Mona Eltahawy

@monaeltahawy

20 Sep

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1439650160808796160

It’s the 2nd anniversary of my 2nd book. The Seven Necessary Sins For Women and Girls include: Anger 👇🏽

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1439650160808796160

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1438861731829362689

The Seven Necessary Sins For Women and Girls include: Attention 👇🏽

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The Seven Necessary Sins For Women and Girls include: Ambition 👇🏽

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1438489086575140872

Read 4 tweets

Mona Eltahawy

@monaeltahawy

20 Sep

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1439650160808796160

Girls are born with plenty of rage already, but we squash it. What if we nurtured and encouraged the expression of anger in girls the same way we encouraged reading skills: as necessary for their navigation of the world? Imagine a girl justifiably enraged at her mistreatment.

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1439650160808796160

Imagine if we acknowledged her justifiable anger so that a girl understood she would be heard if anyone abused her and that her anger was just as important a trait as honesty.

What kind of woman would such a girl grow up to be?

feministgiant.com/p/how-much-is-…

We must teach girls that their anger is a valuable weapon in defying, disobeying, and disrupting patriarchy, which pummels and kills the anger out of girls.

Read 7 tweets

Mona Eltahawy

@monaeltahawy

20 Sep

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1439650160808796160

It's the 2nd anniversary of my 2nd book! To celebrate, I've written an essay on the importance of nurturing anger in girls. Anger is one of The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls.

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1439650160808796160

I want girls to grow up with their pilot light of anger tenacious and sure of its right to flare whenever treated unjustly.

I want girls to grow up knowing that angry women are free women.

feministgiant.com/p/how-much-is-…

So far, The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls is available in the U.S., Canada, Ireland, UK and France.

And FEMINIST GIANT is free - no ads or paywall.

If you can pay, it helps keep it free.

feministgiant.com

Read 5 tweets

Mona Eltahawy

@monaeltahawy

19 Sep

What would the world look like if girls were taught they were volcanoes, whose eruptions were a thing of beauty, a power to behold and a force not to be trifled with?

I look at the importance of nurturing the pilot light of anger all girls are born with.
feministgiant.com/p/how-much-is-…

"How much is a little girl worth?" -- Simone Biles.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist asked that question when she testified last week before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee examining failures in the FBI's investigation into former US Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar

Nassar sexually abused Biles and hundreds of other athletes.

The answer to her question, if we are honest, is: little girls are worth NOTHING.

Read 8 tweets

Mona Eltahawy

@monaeltahawy

19 Sep

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1438489086575140872

I don’t want to do anything a man can. My ambition is much bigger than doing whatever a man can. Men are not my yardstick.

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1438489086575140872

If men themselves are not free of the ravages of racism, capitalism and other forms of oppression, it is not enough to say I want to be equal to them or to do whatever they can.

As long as patriarchy remains unchallenged, men will continue to be the default and the standard against which everything is measured. My ambition is for much more. I want to be free. feministgiant.com/p/essay-my-amb…

Read 5 tweets

Mona Eltahawy

@monaeltahawy

17 Sep

@rerutled

Here I am--a 54yo old woman saying I deserve attention.
#ThisIs54 📷 @rerutled

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1438861731829362689

You need a robust ego to be a feminist. You need a massive amount of faith in yourself and your right to be seen and heard in order to be a warrior against patriarchy. feministgiant.com/p/a-vindicatio…

One of my literary heroes, the Chicana lesbian poet, writer and feminist theorist Gloria Anzaldúa wrote in This Bridge Called My Back, "A woman who writes has power. A woman who writes is feared. In the eyes of the world this makes us dangerous beasts."