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In many non-Western countries, speaking about such things as desire is scorned as “white” or “Western” behavior. I’ve been accused of being “obsessed” with sex because I insist on talking openly about desire.
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It's my birthday! I am officially 54 years old today. The most subversive thing a woman can do is to talk about her life as if it matters. Because it does. For my new essay, I ask: What is desire, at 54? feministgiant.com/p/essay-my-des #ThisIs54
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Listen to the open, unabashed desire of I’timad Arrumaikiyya, an 11thC Arab poet: "I urge you to come faster than the wind to mount my breast and firmly dig and plough my body, and don’t let go until you’ve flushed me thrice." Arab & Muslim female poets speaking desires! 👇🏽
The cover of Classical Poems by Arab Women. On a white background is an abstract illustration drawn in black.
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And here is Hafsa bint al-Hajj Arrakuniyya, a twelfth century poet who was considered one of the best Andalusian poets, free with her desire:
Text: If I keep you in my eyes until the world blows up I’d still want you more
. . .
I know too well those marvellous lips.
By Allah, I’m not lying if I say I love sipping their finerthanwine
delicious dew . . .
When you break at noon you’ll need a drink and you’ll find my mouth
a bubbling spring and my hair a refugeshade.
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Who among us is raised to desire freely? When desire is surrounded by silence & taboo, the most vulnerable who are hurt-esp girls & LGBTQ folks. To desire & to be desired is political. How we fuck & who we fuck is political. Always the goal: to be free.
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Ooh that's good. But now I'm thinking maybe it was Ahmad al-Tifashi, The Delights of Hearts that I was thinking about. Both are good. Hearts may have the chapter that explains sleepwalking, which is how you fuck another guy and pretend you were sleepwalking!
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