I am happy I have continued reading the book (The Seven Necessary Sins For Women and Girls), and this is a sequel to my previous article.
The next sin or I mearn chapter in Eltahawy's book was Attention. And I have seen strong, independent, talented women called whore bitches just because they stood up and grabbed what they deserve. A man would have never been called so if or maybe better when he does the same thing. Since I was part of the Egyptian Revolution I have a feel for what Mona describes about attention. I think the 25th of Jan and the days that followed broke something loose in many egyptians and especially egyptian women. I saw women getting bolder and not any more being apologetic for being women, but really taking what they deserve not caring what they are called.
Then comes Profanity, where again, me and Mona Eltahawy don't see eye to eye. I don't see the need to be angry nor profane to get what we need or deserve. Profanity is not a tool I can promote or accept. I am against, completely against how patriarchy had used a girl or a female's body part to signify weakness, stupidity and profanity. It is really interesting how the author noted that she now uses "don't be a little kitten" or "cry like a kitten" instead of the patriarchy's "like a girl". That is nice.
But again, why do I need to say either. I am so moved by the anger and negative vibe that radiates from a big portion of the book. I do not think the world requires any more anger, we need to stand for ourselves but not to end up with inflated egos and anger. Because then we will be no better than the patriarchy we are complaining of. We need to be conscious of where we are coming from and why we are doing this, really.
Ambitions is sin number 4 and that is a great chapter with so many examples that show how this world was designed just to kill ambition in women just because they have wombs. And yes it can be seen till this day and in the most civilised and advanced societies that being a woman, a mother you are at a disadvantage. It was an amazing experience reading about the Japanese University where they were unfairly assessing women to "rescue the boys". The boys needed rescuing because the girls were getting better marks and would have been accepted instead of the boys!!!!! And they weren't even apologetic for doing that!!!!!
Power is sin number 5. Power, women in power, examples of women gaining power and claiming positions of power without asking for permission is very powerful, in my opinion, to every girl and woman. Gives hope, a silver lining that if they can do it, you can do it.
Violence is sin 6 and again here she lost me. The whole predicament of the chapter is that we need to increase women’s violence against men to balance the scale not decrease men’s violence. I am with women defending themselves when attacked and standing for themselves when abused and leaving when not respected but not going violent just to tip the scale.
And finally comes lust, which from my perspective, noones business. Everyone should be free to express it in whichever way they are comfortable with. If you see it a sin, do not do it but do not impose your rules on another, period.
My main feeling after finishing the book is that it might be too long for its content, with some ideas repeated a lot. I wasn’t wiser at the end of this read, just couldn’t prevent myself from questioning the amount of violence promoted here.
This is what jWoman had to say today.
