Body politics and legitimacy: towards a feminist epistemology of the Egyptian revolution

Abstract

In this essay, I discuss political legitimacy from a feminist perspective, analysing the experience of women political activists in Egypt. Building on Linda Alcoff's work on memory, testimony and decolonizing epistemology, my analysis focusses on two intertwined issues: women's political representation and the public debate about sexual harassment. Data collected by Egyptian feminist organizations reveal that, after one century of women's political participation and 60 years after universal suffrage, the gender gap remains wide. Furthermore, both feminist and human rights organizations denounce that authoritarian regimes use sexual harassment to intimidate democratic activists. Although the right to equal political participation has been a main concern for the Egyptian feminists since 1923, the achievement of universal suffrage in 1956 did not provide a viable solution to the gender gap in Egypt, and women are still fighting to find a way out from the binary co-optation/exclusion. Significantly, as I discuss in this essay, women political activists are the main targets of harassment. In addition, women in general and discourses about sexual violence and sexual morality remain highly controversial in Egypt.