On Sept 16, 2022, Mahsa Jina Amini’s death in police custody sparked the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in Iran

3 essays I wrote in solidarity

Glory and power to the women in Iran who seized the narrative and become object and subject.

feministgiant.com/p/essay-women-… You think those girls flipping their theocrats off in the schoolroom in Iran will leave their rage behind in that room when they go home?

You think those schoolgirls chanting “Death to the dictator” do not go home and see the dictator there as well?

feministgiant.com/p/essay-when-g…

FEMINIST GIANT Global Roundup curated by Samiha Hossain:

-Women & Girls in Mali
-LGBTQ+ Nigerians Demand Justice
-Remembering Tina Fontaine
-Queer Black South African Art
-Britain Muslim Women Self-Defense feministgiant.com/p/global-round… FEMINIST GIANT contributor Samiha Hossain curates twice weekly roundups of feminist resistance to global patriarchal fuckery.

Subscribe--it's free, no paywall/ads--and get the roundups in your inbox.

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feministgiant.com

“…they were not playing at all, they knew exactly what they were doing…They knew the weak points of the boat, and they knew how to sink it,”

Orcas smashed a $128k yacht into pieces in the Mediterranean in a 2hr attack h/t @Cosmic_Surfer @rerutled thedailybeast.com/killer-whales-… My love letter to Gladis Blanca, the killer whale that scientists believe began the yacht ramming along with her mother, two sisters and two daughters. It has spread since to other Orcas

feministgiant.com/p/dear-gladis

Alice Munro chose her husband over the daughter he sexually abused.

The reason that you're seeing any defense or attempt to "understand" or deny that horror is because it's a reminder of how easily women become footsoldiers of the patriarchy. Fame and wealth notwithstanding.

Alice Munro had both and still sold her daughter out in favour of the patriarchy.

And she reminds too many other women of how easily they footsoldier for the patriarchy too.

In 1977, two years before the Soviet invasion, revolutionary women’s rights activist Meena founded RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) to fight patriarchy at every level in her country. feministgiant.com/p/fist-in-the-…

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1804257473060089944

Shaima, an early member of RAWA, has explained that women in Afghanistan had to be mushti dar dahan, a term in Dari that means "a fist in the mouth," towards the men in their families, and also to society and government–i.e. State, Street, and Home. feministgiant.com/p/fist-in-the-…

White & Christian are considered norm and not dangerous in the U.S. 👇🏽

"GOP Sen Anthony Kern & his prayer team of anti-abortion extremists praying in tongues (that’s not an audio issue) that an 1864 law banning nearly all abortion becomes law again." It's easy to see the fascists and theocrats when they don't look like you. When they're white and Christian, their danger has not registered enough:

Arizona State Senator Leads Prayer In Tongues On Floor Before Abortion Ruling huffpost.com/entry/anthony-…

So successful has white supremacist patriarchy been at convincing white women that they’re lucky to live in the U.S. and not Saudi Arabia:Iran, that so many white women didn’t pay enough attention to theocracy that white supremacy was building at home
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/m… It was being built by white men who look like their fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons, not the scary brown men with beards, right?

I wrote this in 2020 and I have more and more reason to say it in the U.S .today feministgiant.com/p/if-amy-coney…

Footsoldiers of the Genocidal Patriarchy: a thread

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1742563127030358315

I collect them

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1740745695865212928

Two months into its genocide in Gaza, the more Israel displays its savagery against Palestinians, the more obvious its moral and philosophical defeat.

Militarily, Israel is armed to the teeth and propped up by the U.S., the world’s most powerful country.

And Israel is losing The unconscionable vote against ceasefire at the UN yesterday by U.S. & abstention by the UK are reminders that while some western political powers might still be propping up Israel’s crimes,around the world more & more people vehemently oppose the genocide.

Israel is losing

When the NYT is reporting it like this, something is changing "People are being killed in Gaza more quickly, they say, than in even the deadliest moments of U.S.-led attacks in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, which were themselves widely criticized by human rights groups."

Some of you will remember that at in Sept. 2012, I was arrested in NYC for spray painting over an Islamophobic and racist pro-Israel ad.

Notice the language of the ad and how it continues to echo today. 📷 Kristy Leibowitz Anytime you see the words “civilized” and “savage” being used, understand that the purpose is dehumanization.

I refused to allow that dehumanization to exist without challenge on the walls of the subway that I and millions of New Yorkers use.

The wife of the Illinois landlord who stabbed to death Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6yo Muslim Palestinian-American boy, told investigators the man "listens to conservative talk radio on a regular basis" and became obsessed with the war between Hamas & Israel nbcnews.com/news/us-news/s… The landlord also the boy's mother, Hanaan Shahin, a dozen times while she was trying to protect her son and call for help.

The man was screaming "you Muslims have to die" when he barged into the ground-floor apartment the mother and son shared in suburban Plainfield.

Lauren Boebert is a fascist & racist fuck. Undoubtedly.

She is a hypocrite. Undoubtedly.

She is a footsoldier of the patriarchy & a bigot whose views have put many people's lives in danger. Undoubtedly.

I wrote this in 2021 about how dangerous she was
feministgiant.com/p/a-white-supr… This is slut-shaming, misogynist, classist & ageist:

"It's gross watching a 36-year-old member of Congress act like a horny teenager, of course."

"...there's a risk that a 36-year-old grandmother publicly acts out that drunken prom date she didn't get in high school.

Luis Rubiales has resigned as head of the Spanish football federation h/t @mpardell #SeAcabóbbc.com/sport/football… I have written two books and countless essays about patriarchy and how it works to privilege male dominance. And still, too many deny patriarchy’s existence or power. Thank you, Luis Rubiales, for being Exhibit A. #SeAcabó

https://twitter.com/monaeltahawy/status/1697621925181227065?s=20

I am 56 and can barely watch films or TV shows these days because they are about either high school students or 31 year olds.

I've written about a few that feature 50+ cis women, esp how their sex lives are portrayed. My latest is on #AndJustLikeThat feministgiant.com/p/essay-hate-w… Those portrayals are esp important to me because I was not raised for desire. I snatched it from the jaws of shame.

In Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, 60-something Nancy Stokes is snatching desire from the jaws of ageism. feministgiant.com/p/the-fuck-it-…

"I was too young and then overnight I was too old.”

There is no mythical “prime” working age or “sweet spot” for professional women, a Harvard Business Review research telling us what we've always known

huffpost.com/entry/age-disc… We were never meant to thrive in this world, built by (able-bodied, wealthy, cisgender heterosexual, white) men for (able-bodied, wealthy, cisgender heterosexual, white) men. feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…

"What I’ve personally not heard mentioned as much, is the crippling anxiety you can get with the peri menopause...A kind of irrational anxiety that makes no sense whatsoever! You feel like you’ve lost your own damn mind!" Martine McCutcheon
uk.style.yahoo.com/martine-mccutc… Anxiety, out of the blue, was one of the hardest impacts of perimenoapuse for me.

I've had bouts of depression when I was younger, but never anxiety.

So I'm always grateful when celebrities and actors with platforms like Martine share their experience.
feministgiant.com/p/essay-menopa…

Ireland just had its first Menopause Summit rte.ie/lifestyle/livi… And I'm calling this the Oprah Menopause Summit oprahdaily.com/life/health/a4…

"it is the language of people who very much believe that they are engaged in a holy war.”

The white Christian zealots whose danger for too long has been underplayed because they're white and Christian, which are considered the norm and default in the U.S.

https://twitter.com/SChenHayes/status/1638290855642517504

As I have said again and again: it is easy to see zealots and fascists when they don't look like you

feministgiant.com/p/essay-the-ha…

It's #MothersDay in the UK today, so here's my essay Unmothering

open.substack.com/pub/feministgi… My paternal grandmother had eight children. My maternal grandmother had 11 children (she was pregnant 14 times).

My mother is the eldest of those children and she has three children of her own.

I am the eldest of those children and I am glad to have none of my own.

Sydney, I am about to start my journey towards you! On Wednesday, I’m giving a talk at @UNSW for #InternationalWomensDay and then having a conversation with Senator @MehreenFaruqi about feminism around the world

unsw.to/MonaEltahawy