By Mona Eltahawy NEW YORK — Melody Moezzi and Michelle Obama have three things in common — a law degree, a desire to see Barack Obama become the next U.S. president and Hula Hoops. Obama told People magazine recently that Michelle was the “best Hula-Hooper I know.” Not to be outdone, Moezzi — a Muslim [...]

By Mona Eltahawy NEW YORK — A woman wrote to me recently to ask “how can a non-Muslim EVER trust the word of a Muslim.” She said she “knew it is ok for all Muslims to lie to infidels” and, just for good measure, informed me that being a Muslim was incompatible with being an [...]

I’m a big fan of The Washington Post’s Emily Wax, whose work with the paper I’ve followed for several years. She has a story in today’s WaPo on the sexual harassment – or “Eve teasing” – women face in India. It dovetails with many of the issues brought up by the Egyptian Centre for Women’s [...]

By Mona Eltahawy NEW YORK — Madonna, this is a bit late because I was caught up writing a piece protesting the absence of Saudi women from the Olympics. I thought you’d understand. I actually first “met” you in Saudi Arabia. It was 1984 in Jeddah, on the west coast of Saudi Arabia. Your first [...]

Wednesday’s The Washington Post has an editorial on Saudi women and the Olympics that quotes from my oped last week. Here’s hoping it brings about some good – at least embarass the Saudi authorities and the IOC. Olympic Embarrassment Saudi Arabia’s Olympic team has no women. Wednesday, August 20, 2008; A14 “THE PRACTICE of sport [...]

By Mona Eltahawy NEW YORK — As an Egyptian whose country’s military dictators are either taken by God or an assassin’s bullet, I envy the Pakistani people their ability to now use the term “former president.” As former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf contemplates how his friends in the U.S. administration dropped him quicker than you [...]

On today’s “Meet the Press”, David Gregory asked U.S. Sec. of State Condoleezza about Saudi women and the Olympics. Here’s the exchange from the transcript provided on the show’s website: MR. GREGORY: Secretary Rice, before I let you go, all of us here in America and around the world are watching the Olympic Games. SEC’Y [...]

I was interviewed by The Washington Post for a story about veils and harassment in Egypt. I told the paper’s Cairo correspondent Ellen Knickmeyer what I told Al Masry Al Youm – the more women veil, the less men learn to behave responsibly and decently. She spoke to Egyptian women and men and interviewed Nehad [...]

UPDATE: The Washington Post published a slightly shorter version of this oped on Aug. 14. Clink on the link to see their reader comments, some of which are as stunning as the ones I got on Al Masry Al Youm. Readers never fail to stun me! NEW YORK — Confession: I’m a total sucker for [...]

Earlier this week, I discussed shame and sexual harassment with an editor at the independent Egyptian daily Al Masry Al Youm. Almost 200 readers – mostly men – posted stunningly misogynistic messages in reaction. They questioned whether I had ever really faced sexual harassment as I said I had or if I was just making [...]

Watch Wajeha al-Huwaider’s YouTube protest against the ban on women’s sports in Saudi Arabia.