Tariq peered out of the window of the living room of his third-floor flat, watching a glow-worm of traffic inch its way in puma-wrapped technicolour across the wide thoroughfares of Al Barsha 1, Dubai. Of course, he’d quite gotten used to the way the traffic signals changed colour by the eon rather than by the minute, though he himself rarely drove in Dubai.
Tag Archives: Patriarchy
A glimpse at the Battle of the Sexes
I recently got into this new life; the working class. And it is in this domain that Ia��ve seen and heard of sexual harassment, any kind of harassment actually. It is also in this domain that Ia��ve met young men and women, who would be considered to be the youth and part of the upcoming […]
Hymen Talk
In comparison to neighboring Middle-Eastern countries, Lebanon is often regarded as a haven for moral and sexual liberty. The bubbly, alcohol-soaked nightlife and its inevitable share of wild, uninhibited party girls are endlessly flaunted through the Facebook posts of proud Lebanese and praised by astonished foreigners who have had their preconceptions of the Arab world […]
حقوق المرأة العربيّة في يد الرجُل
لا تني المرأة في العالم العربيّ بعامّة، وفي لبنان بخاصّة، عن مطالبة السلطات الرسميّة الملكيّة والحكوميّة، بحقوقٍ سياسيّة واجتماعيّة وعائليّة وإنسانيّة ومدنيّة، وذلك عبر التظاهرات والاحتجاجات حينًا، والحملات الإعلانيّة والإعلاميّة عبر وسائل الإعلام حينًا آخر قراءة المزيد
I am a Heel Wearer and my Footwear is Feminist !!
One of the questions many women ask me when they look at me or when they read ‘Red Lips High Heels’ is: how can you say you are feminist when you wear red lipstick and high heels? Strange how I have to defend my feminism within a movement fighting for women’s rights. True we do […]
I am sick and tired of conforming!
I am sick and tired of being an exploited objectified woman and citizen. I am Lebanese and in my society, beauty standards changed in the last 10-15 years. We were busy with war until the early 1990s, not paying attention to physical characteristics. When we stopped killing each other with weapons, we started a devastating competition, […]
Who’s afraid of Aliaa el Mahdy?
October 2011: a young nineteen-year-old Egyptian woman blogs a naked picture of herself. What could have been but a mundane act in the west was about to stir a passionate debate around feminism religion and nudity in the Arab world. Two years later, after having been harassed, threatened and kidnapped in her home country, Aliaa […]
…لكلّ امرأة ألف تحية
استيقظتْ ذلك الصباح، نظرت إلى أنوثتها المتعبة في المرآة، وأهدتها ابتسامة…إنّه صباح الثامن من آذار، هو يومها: اليوم العالميّ للمرأة إنّ الاحتفال بهذه المناسبة جاء على إثر عقد أول مؤتمر للاتحاد النسائي الديمقراطي والذي عُقد في باريس عام 1945. وكان أول احتفال عالمي بيوم المرأة رغم أن بعض الباحثين يرجح أن اليوم العالمي للمرأة كان […]
Women in the Middle East/ Western Asia: the Fight for Equality Continues!
I have been following closely the diverse campaigns on Facebook and other online platforms such as the “Uprising of Women in the Arab World”. Somehow, most testimonies reflect my concerns. As a Western Asian woman, but also as a university professor, researcher, author, artist and activist, in one of the most Patriarchal institutions i.e. the […]
The veil in Ancient Middle Eastern/Western Asian Cultures
Today, veiling is a globally polarizing issue, and a locus for the struggle between contemporary and traditional interpretations of Islam. But veiling was a practice long before Islam. Veiling— of women, of men, and of sacred places and objects—has existed in countless cultures and religions. This article introduces to the use and symbolism of the […]