Thread by @monaeltahawy

My most popular essay on menopause.

When you are shameless, you can't be shamed.

Few things are surrounded by more shame & silence than a cis woman who's no longer young, her vagina which is no longer wet, and her sex drive which isn't supposed to exist feministgiant.com/p/moisturize-y…

If I thought I needed to be brave to write about my 2 abortions, it's next level courage to admit to being that cis woman who's no longer young,whose vagina is no longer wet,and whose sex drive isn't supposed to exist.

So here I am looking shame in the eye, daring it to test me

The Black lesbian poet and intellectual Audre Lorde famously told us “your silence will not protect you.”

Silence protects our oppressors. Silence fuels shame.

And of course @Twitter has slapped a "sensitive content" warning on my tweet. What's "sensitive" about what I wrote?

Hey @Twitter:

VAGINA VAGINA VAGINA

SEX DRIVE SEX DRIVE SEX DRIVE

MENOPAUSE MENOPAUSE MENOPAUSE

Which part is "sensitive content?"

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. feministgiant.com/p/moisturize-y…

That's why for its campaign for a new product for sensitive vulvar & vaginal tissue in older bodies, Kindra said it was using "V" instead of “Vagina” or “Vulva” because “we face rejection & censorship when we use those anatomical words, even in a caption” on social media.

You can read about it here, in this essay the title of which would I'm sure get me a "Warning: sensitive content" from @Twitter

feministgiant.com/p/essay-in-app…

My second most popular essay on the menopause transition is this one in which I see the wonderful film #EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce as an allegory for menopause feministgiant.com/p/essay-the-me…

And in my #3 top essay on the menopause transition, I argue that Menopause is Shit, Menopause is Amazing feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…

I’ve written 15 essays so far in the menopause transition and on getting older.

They’re all 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

And I’m editing an anthology on the menopause transition for @unbound which you can pre-order along with goodies here. unbound.com/books/bloody-h…