Review: Headscarves and Hymens by Mona Eltahawy
TRIGGER WARNING – MENTION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT AND FGM
Headscarves and Hymens, 2015, is an elaboration of the article named “Why Do They Hate Us?” written in April 2012 by an Egyptian American activist, writer, author, journalist and feminist icon Mona Eltahawy. The book discusses injustices towards women across the Arab world, revealing horrifying statistics and anecdotal incidents of violence against women and girls. ElTahawy makes clear the devastating disturbances such as FGM, child marriage, domestic violence, marital rape, sexual abuse, harassment and assault within the region explaining how the state, the street and the home all perpetrate misogyny through patriarchal traits and dictatorship.
As a Muslim woman who has been raised in the UK with an Egyptian background, I have been meaning to read this book for a long time. What a better time to read this insightful book than in the midst of the virtual Egyptian feminist revolution. I cannot help but relate this back to the ongoing feminist revolution that is happening right now in Egypt. I resonate with ElTahawy and I feel heard and seen by her words. In Egyptian and Muslim culture, it is controversial to be outspoken about these issues. This is why I rate ElTahawy highly and have a lot of respect for her bravery.
Sexual harassment and assault are absolutely rife in Egypt. When I was there as an adult, my Egyptian relatives would try to keep me “hidden” and sheltered to “protect” me from the many abuses against women that too often take place. As a young Scottish-Egyptian, I entirely understand my privilege and stance of being based in the UK and visiting Egypt by choice, which is not the case for most of Egypt’s citizens.
It was only last year that I left Egypt, during the four years that I spent in Egypt independently as an adult I had to build resilience against daily sexual harassment. And find ways to block it out. Headphones in the streets is a must. But why do our brothers in Islam, the men in our society adhere to this rape culture? What are they so denied of, that most of us end up at the receiving end of abuse? Impacted with the force and weight of these consequences that we are entirely made to feel guilty about. Eradicate the shame and guilt from survivors. As ElTahawy states that “attitudes towards rape across the Arab world are abysmal.”
And although this book draws on and makes criticisms of modern-day Salafism, an extreme form of Islam stemming from Saudi Arabia, this is not a space for Islamophobia. Whether criticisms of patriarchal traits within a culture and religion have been made. However, many women in the region have internalised misogyny and patriarchy and therefore have disagreed with ElTahawy, resulting in this book also being criticised by those same women, the women it aims to protect and speak out for. As she explains it as “a toxic mix of culture and religion” specifically Islam and especially the escalation of extreme Salafi views and an awfully conservative Saudi approached interpretation.
ElTahawy explains that “In Egypt, we have reached a point at which the state can physically strip you of your veil, and forcibly examine your hymen while claiming to protect you”- 2005 protest (Hosni Mubarak). This is a clear violation against human rights and furthermore, this enables patriarchy and abuse to proceed on the street and in the home. It sets an extensively inappropriate example of how women will be treated. And to add to it “Egypt’s current president, El-Sisi approved of the March 2011 ‘Virginity Tests’” where women were subject to these violations and essentially sexually assaulted while in detention.
This book criticises the misogyny that lies within the extreme Islamist principles that have been used as an excuse to govern women’s bodily autonomy and integrity and giving men the green light to persist with their perverted ways. ElTahawy reminds us that “The obsession with controlling women and our bodies often stems from the suspicion that, without restraints, women are just a few degrees short of sexual instability.”
The book reveals a vicious but ordinary cycle within the Arab world uncovering issues such as FGM, the niqab, extreme Salafism and sexual assault. The oppression and abuse that has been recorded are horrifying, unbearable and unimaginable. Most women ElTahawy interviewed and spoke with have all experienced some form of sexual harassment, abuse and assault. ElTahawy reports that “when an eight-year-old is effectively sold off by impoverished parents to a forty-year-old man, the use of terms such as marriage and husband is an abomination.” In addition “Why is the notion of the child bride persisted, but not the older spouse modelled by Khadijah?” Besides “the protection of our girls must take priority over the fragile egos of clerics and of those men whom clerics give the green light to sexually abuse girls.”
“Culture evolves, but it will remain static if outsiders consistently silence criticism in a misguided attempt to save us from ourselves.” As well as being absolutely necessary reading this book is also a call to action.
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