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Sep 29 • 13 tweets • 7 min read
Yesterday, an ageist, misogynist fuck thought that calling me an "old lady" was the height of insult. The irony being, of course, that I regularly post #ThisIs55 and write about being perimenopausal. So here are some old lady pictures of me celebrating #ThisIs55 📷 @rerutled Mona from the shoulders up, in a sleeveless dress with a bow
Please don't anyone write to tell me "you don't look 55/you look great for 55." That is not the compliment you think it is. I am 55. That's it. I look whatever I look right now. Mona is an "old lady" who loves the way she looks. 📷 @rerutled Mona sitting at a table with her hands folded in front of he
Mona is an old lady who writes quite frequently about being an old lady
feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…
Mona is an old lady who reminds everyone of the importance of moisturizing one’s vagina and also of telling ageist misogynist fucks to fuck off feministgiant.com/p/moisturize-y…
Waiting to cross the street last week next to a man and his daughter (about 6yo), he complimented my hair and I heard him say to her “She is doing what she wants and is happy to be different.” I loved it. That is old lady energy. #ThisIs55 📷 @rerutled Mona in a sleeveless green dress standing in front of a wood
Let's teach girls that doing what they want and being happy to be different are important at any age.

I am happy to be a 55yo woman. I am here. Perimenopause has kicked my fucking ass and I am here.

"Old lady" Mona says fuck the patriarchy feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…
You can read 13 of my essays on menopause and getting older at FEMINIST GIANT.

My newsletter is free--no paywall or ads.

If you can pay, it helps to keep it free.

"Old lady" Mona has a lot to say about getting older!

feministgiant.com
Not for all the money in the world would I go back to being younger.

My 20s without exception and at least half of my 30s were miserable because I felt I had no power.

And now here I am, with more power, and that is why "old lady" is an "insult." feministgiant.com/p/essay-my-des…
What if menopause isn't a reckoning w/ losing what patriarchy had told us made cis women powerful–youth, fertility,motherhood–and that instead of feeling we've been rendered invisible because what made us desirable to patriarchy is now “lost,” we feel instead finally visible?
Visible in all the ways that during our youthful, “fertile” years, we most defied patriarchy and so patriarchy had tried its best to erase those of us who refused to obey, who refused “power” of motherhood, and we know that we are now finally ungovernable?
feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…
Let's be as honest as we can be about what it's like to get older so that ageist misogynist fucks can never sling "old lady" at us as an "insult."

Because in being honest, we can also be honest in how powerful it actually makes us--in ways patriarchy hates and doesn't celebrate. Mona from chest up in a sleeveless dress
"Old" is an insult for as long as "young" is a compliment.

Neither is the case.

I am 55 years old. I am childfree by choice. Neither my age nor my "fertility" express all that I am. I am those things and much more.

#Thisis55
📷 @rerutled feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa… Mona from the chest up sitting at a table with menus on the
My essays on menopause and getting older are in this thread

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More from @monaeltahawy

Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Sep 29
I wrote this letter to white women cheering Iranian women because I’ve had white women come to my events and ask how they can help Muslim women over there somewhere far away because it’s easier than actually doing something about women over here.
It is way past time for white women in the U.S. who have ever asked “How can I help Muslim women” and “Why do Muslim women submit to misogyny?” to start obsessing instead over their white sisters who benefit from white supremacist & theocratic patriarchy
feministgiant.com/p/essay-dear-w…
It is harder to see Foot Soldiers of the Patriarchy when they look like you.

It is easy to see theocrats when they don't look like you.

feministgiant.com/p/if-amy-coney… #IranProtests2022 #mahsamini
Read 12 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Sep 29
We are more than what's on our heads and what's in between our legs:

In Iran, women are fighting against theocrats who enforce hijab by burning shit down, including their hijab.

In the U.S., what are the women who are fighting against theocrats who enforce abortion bans doing?
As you watch the glory and power of the feminist revolution against theocrats in Iran, ask yourself where the fuck is your feminist revolution against theocrats in the U.S. feministgiant.com/p/essay-dear-w… #IranProtests2022 #MahsaAmini
Glory and power to the women in Iran who have seized the narrative and become object and subject.

Glory and power to the women in Iran for serving us this challenge.

feministgiant.com/p/essay-women-… #MahsaAmini #IranProtests2022 #IranRevolution2022
Read 4 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Sep 29
Mona is an old lady who reminds everyone of the importance of moisturizing one’s vagina and also of telling ageist misogynist fucks to fuck off feministgiant.com/p/moisturize-y…
Mona is an old lady who writes quite frequently about being an old lady feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…
And Mona is an old lady who has written and spoken extensively about the importance of profanity feministgiant.com/p/essay-why-i-…
Read 5 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Sep 28
It is #InternationalSafeAbortionDay.

I have had 2 abortions. I was not raped. I was not sick. The pregnancies did not threaten my life. I did not already have children. I just did not want to be pregnant. feministgiant.com/p/abortion-is-…
When abortion is “illegal,” it does not make it rare nor eradicate it. It makes it dangerous and often deadly for the poorest and most vulnerable people who can get pregnant.

Abortion must be safe and accessible to all.

feministgiant.com/p/essay-disres… #InternationalSafeAbortionDay
For as long as patriarchy can shroud abortion with silence, it will continue to stamp it in shame.

So I broke my silence to break free of shame. #InternationalSafeAbortionDay Mona holding a sign saying ...
Read 10 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Sep 28
In Iran, women are fighting against theocrats who enforce hijab by burning shit down, including their hijab.

In the U.S., what are the women fighting against theocrats who enforce abortion bans doing?

It is #InternationalSafeAbortionDay. Where is your feminist revolution?
It’s imperative to understand that the theocrats who look like you and those who don’t both follow the same rule book: control desire and control our bodies. More simply: Control.

Enforced hijab.

Enforced pregnancy.

feministgiant.com/p/essay-dear-w… #InternationalSafeAbortionDay
The patriarchy atop theocracy melange of Iran’s “morality police” is easier to see because it is so visibly expressed in enforced hijab.

But what is the enforced pregnancy of the Christian zealots in the U.S. but a melange of patriarchy built atop theocracy right here?
Read 8 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Sep 28
September 28 is #SafeAbortionDay. Last year, for that day and in solidarity with the right to safe and accessible abortion for all, I finally wrote about my "illegal" abortion in Egypt in 1996 and my "legal" abortion in the U.S. in 2000

feministgiant.com/p/abortion-is-… #AbortionRights
I use inverted commas because I reject the State’s attempt to control my uterus. I reject its power to declare what is “legal” or “illegal” when it comes to my abortions. The State can fuck off with its opinions about what I can/can’t do with my uterus. That control belongs to me
I was not raped. I was not sick. The pregnancies did not threaten my life. I did not already have children. I just did not want to be pregnant. I did not want to have a child.

I am glad I had my abortions. They gave me the freedom to live the life I have chosen. Mona holding a sign saying "I have had two abortions.&q
Read 6 tweets

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