Headscarves and Hymens, by Mona Eltahawy
American-Egyptian journalist Mona Eltahawy came to the world’s attention in November 2011 when she was physically and sexually assaulted by police during a protest in Cairo. In Headscarves and Hymens, she argues that the Arab Spring has been a revolution for men alone and that women—who often played a leading role in the protest movements—have been left behind, forced to cover up in the name of modesty, hounded by sexual harassment and excluded from politics.
Eltahawy, who grew up in Egypt, the UK and Saudi Arabia, has an interesting perspective. She details her own struggles with the headscarf, which she wore for nine years, and her first encounters with feminism in the unlikely location of Jeddah university library. She is most compelling in her arguments about the false dichotomy of “Islam vs the west,” which quashes the range of views within her religion, including feminist interpretations; and in her description—revolutions notwithstanding—of the collusion of state leadership and street life to intimidate women back into the home. Eltahawy presents a storm of horror stories about the treatment of women in the Middle East, from child marriages to female genital mutilation to domestic violence. Although none of it comes as news, one cannot help but feel horrified and enraged.
There’s no grand thesis here; the book is disappointing in its lack of a clear argument or in-depth analysis of the social, religious and cultural forces that Eltahawy blames for the status quo. As a rallying call though—and as a reminder of the Arab world’s own feminist movements, often under-acknowledged in the west—it has force.
