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I Wish #IBeatMyAssaulter
Women have been socialized to accept assault; it’s time to fight back
I just finished reading Mona Eltahawy’s book- The Seven Necessary Sins For Women and Girls- and felt compelled to write this article. The feminist icon starts her book with:
“I wrote this book with enough rage to fuel a rocket” — Mona Eltahawy.
I’ve been feeling rageful lately about injustice. Why was I taught to keep it in and not express it? What would happen if I express it? Why has the world asked me to remain silent on it?
In the book, Mona describes how she beat a man who groped her at a nightclub just a few days after she launched her #Mosquemetoo campaign. Her #Mosquemetoo hashtag stemmed from when a fifteen-year-old Mona was sexually assaulted during the hajj pilgrimage. Fast forward a few decades later, she was fifty and groped at a nightclub. On both occasions, fifteen and fifty, her clothes didn't save her, her age didn't save her, the street didn't save her. But she saved herself this time.
Reading about Mona grabbing her sexual offender from the back of his shirt and throwing him on the floor, punching his face over and over made me feel warm. It was almost like getting justice for that fifteen-year-old girl in Mona’s story. Almost, but not really.
