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Headscarves and hymens : why the middle east needs a sexual revolution /

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Faber & Faber, 2015Description: pages cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780865478039 (hardback)
  • 0865478031 (hardback)
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 323.3/40956 23
LOC classification:
  • HQ1237.5.M628 E47 2015
Other classification:
  • REL105000 | REL037000 | SOC028000
Summary: "A passionate manifesto decrying misogyny in the Arab world, by an Egyptian American journalist and activist When the Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy published an article in Foreign Policy magazine in 2012 titled "Why Do They Hate Us?" it provoked a firestorm of controversy. The response it generated, with more than four thousand posts on the website, broke all records for the magazine, prompted dozens of follow-up interviews on radio and television, and made it clear that misogyny in the Arab world is an explosive issue, one that engages and often enrages the public. In Headscarves and Hymens, Eltahawy takes her argument further. Drawing on her years as a campaigner and commentator on women's issues in the Middle East, she explains that since the Arab Spring began, women in the Arab world have had two revolutions to undertake: one fought with men against oppressive regimes, and another fought against an entire political and economic system that treats women in countries from Yemen and Saudi Arabia to Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya as second-class citizens. Eltahawy has traveled across the Middle East and North Africa, meeting with women and listening to their stories. Her book is a plea for outrage and action on their behalf, confronting the "toxic mix of culture and religion that few seem willing or able to disentangle lest they blaspheme or offend." A manifesto motivated by hope and fury in equal measure, Headscarves and Hymens is as illuminating as it is incendiary"--Summary: "A passionate manifesto decrying misogyny in the Arab world, by an Egyptian American journalist and activist"--
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Holdings
Item type Current library Home library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Standard Loan Coeur d'Alene Library Adult Nonfiction Coeur d'Alene Library Book 323.34 ELTAHAW (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Available 50610020120155
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The journalist Mona Eltahawy is no stranger to controversy. Through her articles and actions she has fought for the autonomy, security, and dignity of Muslim women, drawing vocal supporters and detractors. Now, in her first book, Headscarves and Hymens , Eltahawy has prepared a definitive condemnation of the repressive forces-political, cultural, and religious-that reduce millions of women to second-class citizens.
Drawing on her years as a campaigner for and commentator on women's issues in the Middle East, she explains that since the Arab Spring began in 2010, women in the Arab world have had two revolutions to undertake: one fought alongside men against oppressive regimes, and another fought against an entire political and economic system that represses women in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and other nations.
Eltahawy has traveled across the Middle East and North Africa, meeting with women and listening to their stories. Her book is a plea for outrage and action, confronting a "toxic mix of culture and religion that few seem willing or able to disentangle lest they blaspheme or offend." A manifesto motivated by hope and fury in equal measure, Headscarves and Hymens is as illuminating as it is incendiary.

"A passionate manifesto decrying misogyny in the Arab world, by an Egyptian American journalist and activist When the Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy published an article in Foreign Policy magazine in 2012 titled "Why Do They Hate Us?" it provoked a firestorm of controversy. The response it generated, with more than four thousand posts on the website, broke all records for the magazine, prompted dozens of follow-up interviews on radio and television, and made it clear that misogyny in the Arab world is an explosive issue, one that engages and often enrages the public. In Headscarves and Hymens, Eltahawy takes her argument further. Drawing on her years as a campaigner and commentator on women's issues in the Middle East, she explains that since the Arab Spring began, women in the Arab world have had two revolutions to undertake: one fought with men against oppressive regimes, and another fought against an entire political and economic system that treats women in countries from Yemen and Saudi Arabia to Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya as second-class citizens. Eltahawy has traveled across the Middle East and North Africa, meeting with women and listening to their stories. Her book is a plea for outrage and action on their behalf, confronting the "toxic mix of culture and religion that few seem willing or able to disentangle lest they blaspheme or offend." A manifesto motivated by hope and fury in equal measure, Headscarves and Hymens is as illuminating as it is incendiary"--

"A passionate manifesto decrying misogyny in the Arab world, by an Egyptian American journalist and activist"--

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Starred Review. Journalist Eltahawy builds on the scholarship of women such as Egyptian American writer Leila Ahmed to craft an argument about the complexity surrounding women's sexual and political identities in the Middle East. The author uses her experiences of sexual assault as well as her conflicted feelings about the hijab to unveil what she identifies as false choices for women in Islamic societies. Her juxtaposition of personal anecdotes, media analysis, and feminist theory helps dismantle many assumptions Westerners in general and Western feminists in particular have about women in the Middle East. The overarching conclusion is that a sexual revolution cannot wait. Rather than view womens' need for freedom as something to work toward after resolving other forms of turmoil, Eltahawy explains, "This is our chance to dismantle an entire political and economic system that treats half of humanity like children at best." Such a revolution will be possible when, according to Eltahawy, each woman begins to "talk about her life as if it really matters." VERDICT Based on her 2012 article in Foreign Policy titled "Why Do They Hate Us?", Eltahawy's account is a strong, insightful, and well-researched analysis of many issues connected to Middle Eastern women's autonomy (e.g., the hijab, marriage, female genital mutilation). Her personal insights set this work apart. [See Prepub Alert, 10/27/14.]-Emily Bowles, Building for Kids Children Museum, Appleton, WI (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Egyptian-American journalist and feminist activist Eltahawy unleashes her passion and outrage at misogyny in the Arab world. Raised in Egypt and England, Eltahawy moved with her family to Saudi Arabia in her teens, when she notes she was "traumatized into feminism" by living in a country where women "were infantilized beyond belief." Covering countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Egypt, Morocco, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Yemen, Eltahawy highlights how women remain covered up, harassed on the street, subject to genital mutilation, and forced to get permission from a male guardian to marry or divorce. She does not shy away from difficult topics, such as the way some countries allow rapists to escape conviction by marrying their victims. Nor does she avoid her personal struggles grappling with her own sexuality, her reasons for wearing a hijab for many years, and her assault by riot police during the Arab Spring. Blaming the "toxic mix of culture and religion" evident in the modern legal codes in many Arab countries, Eltahawy is staunch (albeit single-minded) in her criticisms. But she finds hope in the "open mic initiative" in Egypt, in which women can broadcast their harassment stories; the march for women's rights in Lebanon, led by mothers whose daughters had been murdered by their husbands; and women turning to social media in Saudi Arabia, among other examples. This is a timely and provocative call to action for gender equality in the Middle East. Agent: Jessica Papin, Dystel & Goderich. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* In the midst of the Arab Spring struggle for freedom from oppression, women protestors were subjected to virginity tests and the tacit understanding that the revolution wasn't meant to free them. Eltahawy's reaction was a 2012 political essay excoriating the misogyny of the Middle East. In this book, the Egyptian American journalist follows up with an analysis of religious and cultural norms that oppress women, focusing on veils and genital mutilation. Going beyond the debate about religion or the culture clash between Islam and the West, she examines what the practice of veiling has done to perceptions of women and to women's self-perception. Eltahawy criticizes male and female traditionalists as well as the World Health Organization and others whose concerns for cultural imperialism have kept them from protecting the health and lives of young girls subjected to brutal cutting to protect their virginity. Offering details from her own experience and those of scores of women in the Middle East, Eltahawy emphasizes that despite the Human Rights Watch report on massive sexual abuse of women in the Middle East and North Africa, governments continue to deny charges of sexual assault on women on the streets by members of the police and the military as well as individual men. The litany of abuses ranges from the sanctioning of child brides to laws that keep women from driving and laws protecting their abusers, even exonerating rapists if they marry their victims. This is a powerful global feminist demand for equal rights.--Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2015 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

The plight of women in the Middle East.In her debut book, Egyptian-American journalist and commentator Eltahawy mounts an angry indictment of the treatment of women throughout the Arab world. Born in Egypt, she spent her childhood in London, moving with her family to Saudi Arabia when she was 15. Her shock was immediate and visceral: "It felt as though we'd moved to another planet whose inhabitants fervently wished women did not exist," she recalls. Women could not travel, work or even go to a doctor's appointment without male approval. On buses, they were relegated to the last two rows at the back, and schools were segregated by gender. Eltahawy focuses on six areas of women's lives that demonstrate men's hostility: the demand that women enshroud their bodies in public; maintain their virginity until marriage; submit to genital mutilation; have no recourse in cases of domestic violence, rape or divorce; are forbidden to drive; and suffer dire repercussions if they dare to speak out on their own behalfs. In addition to her own experiences, the author draws upon interviews she conducted for a BBC documentary, Women of the Arab Spring, giving voice to a wide range of women, including some who perpetuate patriarchal values and others who risk their lives to oppose them. Her discoveries fuel her rage and dismay. In the United Arab Emirates, for example, women are the property "not only of their sons, but of their babies," mandated by law to breast-feed for two years. In Jordan, a rapist can avoid punishment if he agrees to marry his victim. "When I married him it was like he was raping me again," one woman admitted. In Yemen and Saudi Arabia, girls as young as 8 can be married off to older men. Although Eltahawy's passionate book contributes to the struggle against women's oppression, in the face of endemic misogyny, the potential for revolution seems chillingly remote. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Mona Eltahawy is an Egyptian American freelance journalist and commentator. Her essays and op-eds on Egypt, the Islamic world, and women's rights have appeared in various publications, including The Washington Post and The New York Times. She has appeared as a guest commentator on MSNBC, the BBC, CNN, PBS, Al-Jazeera, NPR, and dozens of other television and radio networks, and is a contributing opinion writer for the International New York Times . She lives in Cairo and New York City.

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