My story with incest. A story of ultimate revenge…

Dear Red Lips High Heels’ readers, I have a story to tell, as I am sure others will recognize themselves in its content. I am not writing just to express myself. I am writing because of others… Other men and women who were abused in their childhood, neglected, maltreated, physically, sexually, emotionally… I am writing […]

MIGRANT DOMESTIC WORKERS IN LEBANON

More than two hundred thousand migrant workers and approximately five percent of Lebanon’s population – most of them women from the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Ethiopia – work in Lebanese households. This type of employment is called domestic work and includes many tasks in private homes such as cooking, cleaning, laundry, caring for children or […]

Perceptions du corps de la femme au Liban

Bien que les définitions de l’être femme soient diverses au Liban, il en est une qui constitue la norme et qui reste difficilement détrônable, quelles que soient les appartenances confessionnelles, politiques, socio-économiques et générationnelles : afin d’être acceptée par l’autre (individuel et collectif), de préserver son honneur et son intégrité (et l’honneur de la famille) et […]

“Watte Sawtik !! Skete !! Khrasse!!” وطي صوتك ! سكتي ! خرسي – The Culture of Silence

“Keep your suffering locked in your heart; unveiled suffering is scandal and dishonor”. “Behind every great man is a woman”. “A woman’s weapon is her tears”. “Sois belle et tais-toi!” Most women in Lebanon and Western Asia are taught to be powerless, docile, weak, to serve and obey, to be followers not leaders, to be […]

My 10 points to the Lebanese Political ‘Intelligentsia’: This is the Time to wear you Gender Equality Hat!

1-      Lebanon is not “one of the best places for a woman to be” – in fact, it is “one of the worst”. According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2013, Lebanon’s rank is 123 out of 136 countries. Discrimination against women and girls – including gender-based violence, domestic violence, economic (in the labor market, women […]

Oh dear Jackie what have you done?

Let me start by saying that as a Middle Eastern 22-year-old I always take a bit of pride being from a country that is more liberated and open than its counterparts. Some name(d) it the Switzerland of the Middle East, others the Paris of the Middle East. Well, for me, Lebanon is just Lebanon. I […]

We cannot give up!

In the last decades, religious fundamentalism was on the move in several countries, but so were mainstream interfaith dialogue, dynamic encounters among ethnic origins, sexual identities and social classes, and secular ideas/practices/movements. In counterpoint to tidal waves of authoritarianism, terrorism, extremism, exclusivism and absolutism, there were (and still are) individuals and groups of people breaking […]

Mon histoire avec l'excision du clitoris

Je suis Leyla et je suis égyptienne. Je vous écris mon histoire en espérant que vous la publierez. Je vis actuellement au Québec où j’ai eu vent de votre projet extraordinaire qu’est ce blog et la page Facebook. Briser le silence, déconstruire les stéréotypes, offrir un savoir alternatif sur les femmes au Moyen-Orient, et varié! […]

Learning from the Past, Understanding the Present, Fighting for a better Future

The incomplete yet revealing journey to the past of Western Asia with a particular focus on womanhood made me realize the importance of pursuing the investigative process of the past at all levels, including the not so obvious ones, the unthought and unthinkable, in order to build constructive memories thus histories and identities. Most Western […]

Leta��s start by teaching our sons not to rape!

The articles we see surfacing the web about womena��s issues are increasing day by day. Writers, authors and bloggers are tackling a wide range of subjects; one of which is rape. Rape is the extreme case of sexual harassment. It is a violation of basic human rights. There have been numerous attempts by different societies […]