Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution

(Paperback)

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HEADSCARVES AND HYMENS explodes the myth that we should stand back and watch while women are disempowered and abused in the name of religion.

In this laceratingly honest account, Eltahawy takes aim both at attitudes in the Middle East and at the western liberals who mistake misogyny for cultural difference. Her argument is clear: unless political revolution in the Arab world is accompanied by social and sexual revolution, no progress will be made.

HEADSCARVES AND HYMENS is the book the world has been crying out for: a powerful, fearless account of what it really means to be a woman in the Muslim world.

'A fascinating, can't-look-away, whistle-stop tour of the Middle East' Daily Telegraph

'Brave and impassioned . . . A shocking book, and one that will make anyone who has seen veiling as a cultural issue think very hard about what is really going on' Mail on Sunday

Reviews

A ground-shaping book that defines the edge of so many vital contemporary debates. Hers is a voice simultaneously behind and beyond the veil

Shocking, heartfelt and well-researched - NEW STATESMAN

Brave and impassioned . . . A shocking book, and one that will make anyone who has seen veiling as a cultural issue think very hard about what is really going on - MAIL ON SUNDAY

An impassioned, deeply felt and affecting memoir that confronts a very real problem - THE TIMES

A brave call for gender equality - GUARDIAN

Author Bio

Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning journalist and commentator on Arab and Muslim issues. She has appeared as a guest speaker on CNN, the BBC and Al Jazeera, and her essays on Egypt, the Islamic world, and women's rights have been published by the WASHINGTON POST, the GUARDIAN and the NEW YORK TIMES. She has won numerous awards for her writing, including the EUROPEAN UNION'S SAMIR KASSIR PRIZE FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS in 2009. NEWSWEEK magazine named Mona as one of its 150 Fearless Women of 2012. She lives in Cairo and New York.

@monaeltahawy