Thread by @monaeltahawy

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.

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1576237775547813889

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

You can read the 13 essays I've written for FEMINIST GIANT here #MenopauseAwarenessMonth

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1572646560542109697?s=20&t=tmwjRZWqlsOIafivBe_pYQ

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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