Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Oct 2 12 tweets 6 min read
If you’re wondering where along my menopause journey I am, it is far enough that if I hear a voice in my head saying "Oh my god, you can't write about that!" I WILL IN FACT WRITE ABOUT THAT. To mark #MenopauseAwarenessMonth, some thoughts on shamelessness.
When you are shameless, you cannot be shamed.

Few things are surrounded by more shame and silence than a cis woman who is no longer young, her vagina which is no longer wet, and her sex drive which is not supposed to exist. feministgiant.com/p/moisturize-y… #MenopauseAwarenessMonth
If I thought I needed to be brave to write about my 2 abortions,it is next level courage to admit to being that cis woman who is no longer young, whose vagina is no longer wet & whose sex drive is not supposed to exist.

So here I am looking shame in the eye, daring it to test me
Patriarchy deploys shame like a drone: it shadows you, ready to take you out any minute, exhausting you by keeping you forever aware of its presence to the detriment of all other things that you could be investing your attention in.

#MenopauseAwarenessMonth
I am learning, much to my thrill and awe, that one of the greatest gifts of the transition known as menopause is shamelessness.

There is a reason that this is my most viewed essay on #menopause.

feministgiant.com/p/moisturize-y… #MenopauseAwarenessMonth
Still, I gasp at the heights of audacity that I like to think come monthly in lieu of my increasingly AWOL menstrual cycle.

It's as if instead of shedding the lining of my uterus, I'm shedding the lining of patriarchal fuckery that I was socialized into
#MenopauseAwarenessMonth
And so here I am looking shame in the eye, daring it to test me.

And in case my shamelessness was not fully apparent, I commissioned @itmeansagift to translate my essay into Arabic. feministgiant.com/p/--c39 #MenopauseAwarenessMonth
Support my work by reading, liking, sharing, and subscribing.

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feministgiant.com #MenopauseAwarenessMonth
The number of peri/menopausal people who've written to me saying "I had no idea I should moisturize my vagina!" is exactly the reason I share my peri/menopausal experience so publicly.

More info here.

feministgiant.com/p/essay-in-app… #MenopauseAwarenessMonth
I am not a dedicated menopause account.

I am, rather, a dedicated shamelessness account.

I share several dedicated menopause accounts here

feministgiant.com/p/moisturize-y… #MenopauseAwarenessMonth
Find the places where you are ruled by should not/would not/could not and defy, disobey, and disrupt the patriarchy by knowing—and vowing—that you shall, will and can.

feministgiant.com

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More from @monaeltahawy

Oct 3
This picture of schoolgirls in Iran.

Wow.

via @theasianfmnst via @1500tasvir #MahsaAmini #IranProtests2022 #IranRevolution Schoolgirls photographed fr...
Fuck theocracy everywhere.

Fuck fascism everywhere.

Fuck the patriarchy in every time zone and every universe.

Glory and power to the girls and women in Iran.
feministgiant.com/p/essay-women-… #MahsaAmini #IranProtests2022 #IranRevolution
My essays are free to read and share.

My newsletter is free—no paywall or ads.

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

feministgiant.com
Read 4 tweets
Oct 3
Glory and lower to girls and women fighting for freedom in Iran h/t @rerutled
Glory and power to girls and women fighting for freedom in Iran h/t @rerutled
Glory and power to the girls and the women in Iran who have seized the narrative and become object and subject. Women and girls are too often the afterthought of a revolution, rarely its reason for being. feministgiant.com/p/essay-women-… #Mahsa_Amini #IranProtests2022 #IranRevolution
Read 7 tweets
Oct 3
My #perimenopause has mostly had two settings
- beat someone up
- have a breakdown
Which is why I love the film Everything Everywhere All at Once so much: Evelyn beats many people up and has a breakdown of sorts. It is the perfect menopause allegory. #MenopauseAwarenessMonth
Everything Everywhere All at Once is the perfect menopause allegory film.

I don’t care if that’s not what The Daniels had in mind when they wrote and directed it. It’s art. It’s out there. And my menopause claims it! feministgiant.com/p/essay-the-me… #MenopauseAwarenessMonth
And I don’t know if Michelle Yeoh has ever talked about her #menopause transition. I don’t care, I love her. She’s 4yrs older than me so I’m claiming her too. It is enough for me that Evelyn gets to beat people up AND have a breakdown of sorts because fuck, yes please!
Read 10 tweets
Oct 2
Thank you.
1. Anxiety
2. Vaginal/vulvar dryness
3. Insomnia
#MenopauseAwarenessMonth
I'll be writing more about anxiety in my essay for Menopause Awareness Day later this month.

Meanwhile, I discuss it in my most recent essay on #menopause feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa… #MenopauseAwarenessMonth
And this one is about vaginal/vulvar dryness feministgiant.com/p/moisturize-y… #MenopauseAwarenessMonth
Read 4 tweets
Oct 1
October is #MenopauseAwarenessMonth.

I am “aware” of my menopause every day. To make up for the silence & taboo that ensures we know next to nothing about what happens to our bodies during this time, I'll be sharing some of my essays throughout the month.
feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa… Four pictures of Mona arranged in a square. In each she is w
If you've ever menstruated, you can go through #menopause, a point in life that marks 12 months without a menstrual cycle.

The time leading up to menopause is known as #perimenopause, and once you’ve reached the point of 12 months w/out a menstrual cycle,you are post-menopausal
It is not just cis women who experience menopause.

Remember non-binary people, trans men, and other gender non-conforming /expansive groups who also experience menopause and do so under even greater levels of silence and taboo.

#MenopauseAwarenessMonth
Read 8 tweets
Sep 30
Menopause is the hardest thing that has ever happened to me. And it’s the best thing I’ve ever gone through.

Menopause is shit. Menopause is amazing. #menopause #perimenopause
What if #menopause is a dive into the self to explore the myths of what we're supposed to be at this stage of our life, what "success" is, what "milestones" to celebrate or regret. And to then wreck them.

A necessary wreckage.

feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa… Four pictures of Mona arran...
Is #menopause harder when you’ve ticked off milestones that have become reminders of how few of them lie ahead still; are they reminders, in other words, of how little time is left?
Read 9 tweets

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