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Secular feminist activists have been the focus of previous research in Egypt. Yet the link of
this constituency to the historical event that propelled its emergence has received little
attention. Moreover, the specific significance of the female protestor and the gendered
dimension of protests, have often been left unexplored. ‘Tahrir Square’ epitomises the critical
event that prompted a third generation of feminist and human rights activists to join citizens
in the streets to claim a new social contract. However, sexual violence episodes became a
routine experience for female protestors, gradually intensifying in frequency and violence.
This thesis engages with young urban secular activists, female and male, who joined street
initiatives, NGO campaigns, and social movements more generally, to combat sexual
violence during the Egyptian Revolution that started in January 2011.
As the prevalence of sexual violence in many different forms (sexual harassment, rape,
domestic violence, intimate partner violence, etc.) was very persistent and widespread prior
to 2011, some initiatives to fight it already existed. Yet, the revolution was a milestone after
which these interventions developed and evolved against the state or standing in for it. These
interventions were part and parcel of the revolutionary action that questioned the state and
fought against disciplinary and regulatory techniques of ‘governmentality’ (Foucault 1991).
In this context, the female protestor came to be a highly controversial subject that tested the
limits of the state and revolutionaries alike. Hence, the female protestor came to signify the
central role of gender in the political process, in such a way as to debunk arguments based on
cultural explanations for the prevalence of gender-based violence in society. This thesis
argues that the female protestor is a focus of political violence whose experiences illuminate
the matrix that sustains and normalises sexual violence in a society. This, in turn, allows us to
connect female body politics with broader socio-economic and political conflicts.
Drawing upon fieldwork conducted for two years among groups of young, secular, feminist
and human-rights activists, this thesis aims to answer how women’s bodies interrelated with
other social forces to effectively bring down the regime. It also addresses women’s interplay
with its reconstitution after June 30, 2013. Thus, this thesis engages with female body politics
to contribute to the literature on urban youth, nationalism, social movements and gender.
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