About
This interactive website is aimed to establish a community for all women especially ones who are afraid and restricted from sharing their experiences with their surrounding because it is a taboo, to reach out to other women feel similarly through this platform. By actively reflecting and responding to my film ( Maybe We Are All the Same) I am encouraging a larger female discourse, to find comfort and liberation.
Who am I
This platform initially emerged as means for myself to solve a personal conflict. Growing up as an Egyptian Austrian citizen, my bi-cultural background has made me question and spiral around the notions of gender and sexuality specifically how to contribute to who I am. As much as I feel proud to belong to these cultures I also sometimes feel like I do not belong to either one, certainly when it comes to situations concerning these notions where I cannot identify with either one.
This journey, the attentiveness of my privilege, education, and most importantly biculturalism allowed me to balance two opposing cultures, in order to weave together my two identities and innovativy articulate these two elements into a new way of seeing and experiencing the world. Particularly from a female perspective, encouraging other females to participate in this journey of self-censorship, to curate a collective narrative. ”. Therefore, as a female director from an Arabic background, I want to contribute to the movement of self-representation to reject the false representation that a male-dominant world has formed of us throughout centuries.
This website aims to build a female community, safe-space, and collective. I want to allow us to speak openly and vulnerably and most importantly support and empower each other through the the simple exchange of listening and sharing. It offers us a new experience to self-reflect on our actions and learn how to become better versions of ourselves by listening to other women who might face the same difficulties as us.
Know More
An Introduction to Our Voices
“If you want others to talk about themselves, you have to start with yourself first."
This audio is a result of a round of discussions I hosted with various women from different cultures, ages, and values. It was held in the fall of 2020, sharing perspectives on social taboos, and the notions of identity and vulnerability.
The Voices: Meet the Community
Sherifa
I think it’s really important to be able to find a safe space to speak about your sexual experiences or to ask questions about sexuality and sexual pleasure whether you’ve experienced it or not. I myself have struggled with the silence for too long and when I found the opportunity to speak to someone who I know would protect my story, I found comfort and reassurance for the first time. Before this interview, I was very lonely and lost in my thoughts not knowing what to do about my experiences or how to deal with them. Finding comfort in discussing natural human matters is an essential in everyone’s life.
Misho
Sexuality is integral to women’s political and economic empowerment. Norms and structures that regulate sexuality can prevent women from leading fulfilled lives. Without having my own personal safe-space be it with my friends or family to discuss vital topics related to womanhood, I would not be who I am today.
Na
I was raised in a family where the female body and female sexuality were issues that were never discussed. All issues pertaining to my sexual development as a young woman were under the banner of "the elephant in the room". My own menstruation was hardly recognized or addressed. As for the society to which I "supposedly" belonged, one could say that there were and still are a multitude of taboos surrounding women's bodies and women's sexuality.
For these reasons, this much more than a topic of mere interest. It is a topic that represents the very essence of who I am.
Heddy
I think having these safe spaces where women can open up and connect are essential if we ever want to overcome our female generational trauma and break free from these social constructs. It’s up to us to make these platforms available to other women in an active effort to liberate them and ourselves.
Luisa
Hi! My name is Luisa, I am Brazilian and I took part in this discussion because I am interesting in having open conversations with women from diverse cultures about their relationship towards their sexuality and taboos imposed by society. I find that sharing stories is the only way to start tackling these themes because we can recognise the common grounds between our experiences
Farida
I think it’s really important to be able to find a safe space to speak about your sexual experiences or to ask questions about sexuality and sexual pleasure whether you’ve experienced it or not. I myself have struggled with the silence for too long and when I found the opportunity to speak to someone who I know would protect my story, I found comfort and reassurance for the first time. Before this interview, I was very lonely and lost in my thoughts not knowing what to do about my experiences or how to deal with them. Finding comfort in discussing natural human matters is an essential in everyone’s life.