Visual artist Marisa Gallemit hosts a conversation with Mona Eltahawy, author of
The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls,
a manifesto that encourages women and girls to defy, disrupt, and destroy the patriarchy by embracing the qualities they’ve been trained to avoid.
Seizing upon the energy of the #MeToo movement, Mona Eltahawy advocates a muscular, out-loud approach to teaching women and girls to harness their power through what she calls the “seven necessary sins” that women and girls are not supposed to commit: to be angry, ambitious, profane, violent, attention-seeking, lustful, and powerful. All the necessary “sins” that women and girls require to erupt.
Illuminating her call to action are stories of activists and ordinary women around the world—from South Africa to China, Nigeria to India, Bosnia to Egypt—who are tapping into their inner fury and crossing the lines of race, class, faith, and gender that make it so hard for marginalized women to be heard.
Books available for purchase at every event: Proceeds support our free children’s literacy programs.
Mona Eltahawy’s The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls is shocking, brave, gloriously unfeminine, and right on time.… Reading it will free you, and acting on it will free us all.
