Category: Book Review

Many thanks to Helen Richardson for inviting me onto the blog tour for ‘The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls’ by Mona Eltahawy.

This non-fiction feminist book creates a manifesto for women’s action and was published yesterday (22nd April) by Tramp Press.

From the Publisher:

‘She is here for your liberation, and that of every woman and girl, from Nunavut to Namibia’

REBECCA SOLNIT, author of MEN EXPLAIN THINGS TO ME

‘Shocking, brave, gloriously unfeminine, and right on time’

GLORIA STEINEM, writer and feminist activist

‘It is as piercingly intelligent as it is uncompromising. Every woman should read this’

MAAZA MENGISTE, Booker Prize shortlisted author of THE SHADOW KING

Feminism should terrify the patriarchy. It should put patriarchy on notice that we demand nothing short of its destruction. We need fewer road maps toward a peace treaty with patriarchy and more manifestos on how to destroy it. The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls is my manifesto’ – Mona Eltahawy

The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls identifies seven ‘sins’ women and girls are socialised to avoid–anger, attention, profanity, ambition, power, violence and lust. With essays on each, Mona Eltahawy creates a stunning manifesto encouraging women worldwide to defy, disobey and disrupt the patriarchy. Drawing on her own life and the work of intersectional activists from around the world, #MeToo and the Arab Spring, Eltahawy’s work defines what it is to be a feminist now.

My Review:

I was intrigued to read this book – the idea of a feminist manifesto was hugely appealing. I was also interested to see that this collection of essays offers a more global view of feminism – I’m very conscious that a lot of the feminist books I read are by white UK or US-based women, whereas Eltahawy is of Egyptian heritage and offers examples and analysis across many countries.

Finally, I liked the sound of Eltahawy’s active approach to the problems faced by women around the world – she advocates action and a rejection of patriarchy rather than women accepting the ‘crumbs’ offered to them by a male-dominated society.

Although I wasn’t aware of Eltahawy’s work before, she definitely proved herself a strong voice worth listening to in this book!

The seven essays in this collection offer insights into seven ‘sins’ that women are raised not to commit – anger, wanting attention, profanity, ambition, the desire for power, violence and lust are seen as ‘unfeminine’ and to be avoided. However, Eltahawy suggests that these things are exactly what women need to reclaim and do in order to dismantle the patriarchy. After all, what is the sense in following patriarchal rules if they keep women down?

Eltahawy is a persuasive and engaging voice throughout the essays. She sometimes takes a shocking stance – such as the war against patriarchy section in which she imagines the unprovoked killing of men – before contextualising it in regards to what women face every day. It’s a surprising and effective tactic and definitely kept me reading.

Although she isn’t actually advocating the random killing of men, she certainly leads by example with regard to taking dramatic action. Part of the book covers Eltahawy’s arrests in both Egypt and the US, plus her reasons for wanting to take a stand – right from her experiences with a Cairo flasher when she was 4 years old and her assault during prayers that inspired her to start #MosqueMeToo for Muslim women with similar experiences.

What I loved about the book was the breadth of focus. Eltahawy seamlessly moves across the globe, selecting examples from places as diverse as Ireland and Iraq, the US and Russia, India and Uganda. What unites the examples is women’s oppression and its place in her call to arms. It is an eye-opening trip around the world and did make me feel angry at what women face simply for being female in a male-dominated system.

This international dimension was particularly interesting as it added to my understanding of intersectional feminism – the sense that not all women have the same experiences as some face the double oppression of being female and Black, for example (in what Moya Bailey refers to as ‘misogynoir’). I also loved the idea that minority groups should stand together as patriarchy undermines us all – not a new idea, but one that I’ve not seen presented as eloquently and fiercely before.

Given Eltahawy’s dual Egyptian and American citizenship, it was fascinating to read about her take on the Trump presidency – this book was written while he was in office. She suggests that women (called ‘patriarchy’s foot soldiers’ by Eltahawy) helped to facilitate the election of Trump and accepted the ‘crumbs’ offered to them to support his power. She posits that women deserve more than being token women who are granted some limited power as a tool of Trump and the patriarchy.

This is a compelling and engaging argument for women defying male control and dismantling the patriarchal structures that limit them. Eltahawy calls for women to stand up and seize power – which cannot be done within the existing societal model. This is a powerful book that calls on female rage – and it certainly hit the spot for me.

About the Author:

Mona Eltahawy is a feminist author and award-winning commentator and public speaker. Her work has been published in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications around the world. She is frequent commenter on current affairs on the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and other media outlets, where her goal is always to disrupt patriarchy. She is the author of Headscarves and Hymens and recently launchedher newsletter, Feminist Giant. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram:@monaeltahawy

About Tramp Press:

Tramp Press was launched in 2014 to find, nurture and publish exceptional literary talent. Based in Dublin and Glasgow, they publish internationally. Tramp Press authors have won, been shortlisted and nominated for many prizes including the AnPost Irish Book of the Year,the Booker Prize, the Costa, the Desmond Elliott Prize and the Guardian First Book Award.