Headscarves and Hymens with Mona Eltahawy
Hosted by CBC's Lucy van Oldenbarneveld
In Person Big Ideas History
She writes about what others have largely feared: the body politic and the body sexual. This is a ground-shaping book that defines the edge of so many vital contemporary debates. Hers is a voice simultaneously behind and beyond the veil.
Mona Eltahawy, an award-winning Egyptian-American feminist writer and commentator, wrote an article for Foreign Policy entitled “Why Do They Hate Us?”; “they” being Muslim men, “us” being women. The piece sparked controversy, of course.
In Headscarves and Hymens, she takes her argument further. Drawing on her years as a campaigner and a 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.
Join us for an inside look at 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, this session with Mona Eltahawy promises to be as illuminating as it is incendiary.
