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Feb 3 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
tw: sexual assault

February marks an important anniversary for me: the time in 2018 when I beat up my assaulter in a club.

It was fucking glorious.

feministgiant.com/p/i-beat-my-as… #IBeatMyAssaulter
I’ve lost count of # of times I’ve been sexually assaulted throughout my life and I know that my reactions have spanned a spectrum, all of them valid.

That night it was: Are you fucking kidding me? And my body went into autodrive; it knew exactly what to do. #IBeatMyAssaulter
I wanted him to know that next time he thought he could assault a woman, she too could beat the fuck out of him.

And then guess what a club manager said to me?

feministgiant.com/p/i-beat-my-as…

#IBeatMyAssaulter
“Why didn’t you let your husband take care of it?”

Reader: I almost beat him up too.

“First of all, he’s not my husband,” I replied, pointing to my Beloved. “Also, this is my body, I take care of it.”

#IBeatMyAssaulter
Patriarchy is so universal and normalized that asking cis men to see it is like asking a fish “What is water?”

It enables and protects cis men who sexually assault women, and it demands that only other cis men “protect” us.
#IBeatMyAssaulter
As long as we obey and behave in ways it approves of, of course.

That “protection,” you must remember, is conditional. Because if we disobey, ha!

I don’t want to be protected. I just want patriarchy to stop protecting and enabling men.
#IBeatMyAssaulter
I don’t want to be protected. I want to be free.

feministgiant.com/p/i-beat-my-as…
After the fight at the club, I shared what had happened on Twitter under a new hashtag: #IBeatMyAssaulter.

All my essays are free to read and share.

Subscribe--it's free, no paywall or ads.

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

feministgiant.com
I don’t want to be protected. I want to be free.

I want to be free of patriarchy’s violence.

I made this in April 2020 🎥 @rerutled

#IBeatMyAssaulter

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More from @monaeltahawy

Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Feb 2
Sending love and solidarity to Rep. @IlhanMN as the U.S. House debates and votes on removing her from the Foreign Affairs Committee
Along with Rep. Rashida Tlaib. @Ilhan has challenged the sacrosanct U.S. support for Israel and expressed support for Palestinians as an expression of both their identities and also their progressive politics. I wrote this about the ways they're disruptors feministgiant.com/p/the-disrupto…
Tlaib and Omar are disruptors who signal that if there was a way to do things before they arrived, that way was not their destination.

It has been thrilling to hear Rep. Ilhan Omar call a fascist what he is: aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/14… Text: "The Israeli government and their far-right, ethn
Read 10 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Feb 2
Imagine if all the energy it takes to acquiesce to that shame around menopause and surrender to silence went into owning the power and the glory of this stage of our life. Imagine if this stage of our life was portrayed in terms of power and glory.
feministgiant.com/p/essay-the-po…
“There is an upside to this stage in life where menopause can reduce women’s confidence but I think getting to this stage in life gives you another kind of confidence," Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon
"…‘eff it a little bit and say what you think and who cares what other people think...There is a liberating element to all of this," Nicola Sturgeon feministgiant.com/p/essay-the-po…
Read 12 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Feb 2
In almost every article on cis women, menopause transition & work, I see this:

“As a woman, I didn’t want to add another stereotype to the list or show vulnerability or weakness. Not on this and not now, after having worked so hard to progress my career” fortune.com/well/2023/02/0…
"Menopause affects women’s mental & physical health,leading many to fear for their jobs if they can’t perform to same caliber expected of them. Its far-reaching & complex impact on women’s lives stems from not only stigma around it, but ageism affecting older women more directly"
The quote from the first tweet up there is from Pamela Hutchison, Bloomberg’s Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, who is a Black woman and she reminds us that in addition to all of the above, we must also recognize this: Text: For Hutchinson, speaking openly about menopause in the
Read 8 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Jan 26
"Out of 20yrs of literature regarding menopause symptoms, only 17 academic papers explore how this condition affects Black women, according to Dr. Makeba Williams, a Washington University physician who specializes in OB/GYN w/ expertise in menopause care." ksdk.com/article/news/l…
“I think what was really striking is that we know that for some of the more bothersome symptoms and complaints that are often expressed, hot flashes and night sweats, Black women experience them longer,” Dr. Williams said.
#Menopause
The average duration or median duration for these symptoms is about 10yrs versus White women who experience them 6.5yrs, according to the OB/GYN doctor.

“In addition to having a longer duration, there's a higher prevalence, so about an 80% prevalence amongst Black women."
Read 5 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Jan 25
Ministers have rejected a proposal from parliament's Women and Equalities Committee to introduce "menopause leave" pilots in England, arguing it could discriminate against men.

womenshealthmag.com/uk/health/a426… #Menopause
The government also dismissed a recommendation by the committee to make menopause a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. bbc.com/news/uk-politi… #Menopause
A survey by the all-party Parliamentary Commitment in the UK to explore the impact of menopause has found that 1 in 3 women are missing work due to menopause symptoms and that there is still 'considerable stigma' about talking about menopause at work committees.parliament.uk/committee/328/…
Read 10 tweets
Mona Eltahawy Profile picture
Jan 24
Michelle Yeoh is brilliant. She long has been. She has deservedly been nominated for an Oscar for her role in #EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce

No Asian woman has won Best Actress Oscar. Ponder on that.

She is exquisitely brilliant in this film!
feministgiant.com/p/essay-the-me…
How many films do you know that centre an Asian woman in her 50s?

As Michelle Yeoh puts it, “... an aging Asian immigrant woman. When was the last time you saw that, right?” npr.org/2022/04/08/109… #MichelleYeoh #EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce
Women of colour–older ones at that– are rarely allowed options and yet here is Evelyn with multiple universes, unbeknownst to anyone, including herself.

#EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce
Read 12 tweets

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