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Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
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Feb 13 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
Most people know I've supported Manchester United since 1976 when I was 9. With not 1 but 3 players associated w/the team accused of domestic & sexual abuse of women, #MUFC are becoming a team synonymous with misogyny. I wrote a #Valentine to urge my team to do better,much better
It's not just Manchester United, of course. Football is one of the many outlets that patriarchy offers to cisgender men as an excuse to treat us like shit.

I wrote this just before the finals of the Euros and Copa America last year.

feministgiant.com/p/essay-when-f…
It’s hard enough watching men’s football, with its ever-present threat of violence: players ready to fight when fouled, to argue with referees, to dive and exaggerate the consequences of a challenge. Violence that is often mirrored by fans in the stands and after matches.
Violence that clearly goes home–both the homes of the players and their male supporters.

It doesn’t come on or off with shin guards. It doesn’t need a season ticket to enter the stadium and the men’s team do not leave it behind in the dressing room with their kits and cleats.
It is not football that makes cis men abuse women & children. It is not the alcohol those men readily consume while watching football that makes them hurt women & children. And win, lose or draw, the score doesn’t make a man beat a woman.

Patriarchy does.
feministgiant.com/p/essay-femini…
Some might wonder why I’m writing my first ever public #Valentine a football club. What’s love got to do with it?

Everything.

For some people, the Trinity is the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For me, it’s Feminism, Football, and Fucking. #ValentinesDay2022
And Manchester United are my first love. Before I kissed any boys or girls, the team had my heart.

So I wrote them this #Valentine for part one of my two-part #ValentinesDay2022 series.

Feminism. Football. Fucking.

feministgiant.com/p/essay-femini…
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Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Feb 13
Dear @ManUtd: I wrote this #ValentinesDay essay for you. We know that football-win, lose, or draw-increases incidents of abuse of women and children. The violence that goes home with supporters mirrors that of the players. And it is all enabled by patriarchy. Take a stand! #MUFC
The three players associated with #MUFC who’ve been accused of domestic and sexual abuse of women are just three who were outed/caught: how many others are “saved” by the massive PR machines of football clubs?

feministgiant.com/p/essay-femini…
We have an idea of just how bad the abuse of women and children gets after supporters go home, specifically after Manchester United and Manchester City supporters go home.

theguardian.com/society/2021/j… #MUFC #ValentinesDay2022
Read 9 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Feb 13
For #ValentinesDay, I wrote this to Manchester United, my 1st love. I've supported them since 1976 when I was 9. Now, with 3 players associated w/ #MUFC accused of domestic & sexual abuse of women, my team are becoming synonymous with misogyny. feministgiant.com/p/essay-femini…
It's not just #MUFC, of course. Football is one of the many outlets that patriarchy offers to cis men as an excuse to treat us like shit.

I wrote this before the finals of Euros and Copa America last year about misogynist violence associated w/the sport
feministgiant.com/p/essay-when-f…
It’s hard enough watching men’s football, with its ever-present threat of violence; violence often mirrored by fans in the stands and after matches.

I am thrilled that @we_level_up @EVAWukhave joined forces with recommendations for @FA & @premierleague
Read 4 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Feb 10
cw: sexual asssault.

Four years ago this week, I beat up a man who groped me in a club. It was fucking glorious. And I started #IBeatMyAssaulter.

Celebrate that anniversary with me! feministgiant.com/p/i-beat-my-as…
I chased him down, sat on him and punched and punched and punched. I wanted him to know that next time he thought he could assault a woman, she too could beat the fuck out of him.

My hand was bruised, I had to ice it the next day--it was worth it. #IBeatMyAssaulter 📷 @rerutled Mona's forearm in a bowl of ice
B loved @rerutled & I then went to the bar to get some water and a club manager actually asked me "Why didn't you let your husband take care of it?"

I almost beat him up too. I don't want to be protected. I want patriarchy to stop protecting cis men's violence #IBeatMyAssaulter
Read 10 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Feb 10
Jan 6 2021:white supremacists stormed seat of govt in US capital
Today:white supremacists holding hostage Canadian capital. In both cases, past & present military & police were involved; in both cases fascists weren’t taken seriously because they’re white cbc.ca/news/canada/co…
U.S. white supremacists who supported & planned Jan 6 support the white supremacists holding Ottawa hostage..

In both cases, these fascist fucks are emboldening white fascists around the world.

How the fuck did the Canadian capital become besieged like this? White supremacy
And this is ostensibly in the name of “freedom.”

White fascist fucks in the US and Canada and across Europe and Australia are increasingly laying claim to a word and a concept that their very ideology denies to anyone who doesn’t look like them. “Freedom Convoy” “Freedom Fries.”
Read 4 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Feb 9
Bit late with this: In January, the new president of #Chile, Gabriel Boric, named a progressive, majority-women cabinet; 14 women and 10 men were named ministers. It is also the youngest cabinet in the history of Chile; seven members are in their 30s. theguardian.com/world/2022/jan…
Boric, a 35-year-old former student leader, will replace the billionaire rightwing president Sebastián Piñera on 11 March as he becomes the youngest president in Chile’s history.
Chile’s new defence minister is the granddaughter of the socialist president Salvador Allende, who was deposed in Pinochet’s bloody 1973 coup d’état. Maya Fernández, 50, will preside over long-overdue reforms of the military that overthrew Chile’s democracy.
Read 4 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Feb 9
So now we know: footballers and their fans in England can get away with sexual violence and racism. The red line is animal abuse. How about accountability for all forms of abuse? h/t @rerutled
You all know by now, I’ve supported Manchester United since 1976, when I was 9. My next essay will be about #MUFC, football and gender-based violence. Until then, here’s one I wrote for the Euros last summer feministgiant.com/p/essay-when-f…
And hearing now via @RosebellK that women were sexually assaulted during African Cup of Nations victory celebrations in #Senegal is reminder of what I say in my essay: football is one of the many outlets that patriarchy offers to cis men as an excuse to treat us like shit
Read 6 tweets

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