"Those motherfuckers airstrikes, those dickheads militias, those assholes, those fucking bastards, those fucking little piece of fucking shit..etc," are among a long list of swearing words coloring my viber-conversations with my peeps. (Let your imagination translate that into Arabic!)
I never used to swear in front of my mother, of course, out of respect. Today, she's in Sana'a updating me with her day-to-day miserable experiences with the daily air strikes, over our constant viber calls – today, I find no shame at all to describe political issues for her with my cursing.
Mom: why Houthis talk as if they're winning?
Me: it's the same lame fucking rhetorics used when you're about to be defeated. Remember when Saddam's officers used to swear the Americans during the Iraq War in 2003? And what happened next? The Americans invaded Iraq and fucked it up.
Later on, I get another viber call from my friend Bushra in Sana'a:
Bushra: those %$#@(
Me: indeed.
Bushra: know what, Afrah? I hate to swear with demeaning words about women's sensitive stuff. I'm feminist afterall.
Me: true. But look at it in this way: in our fucking conservative society, the fact that you, as a female, are swearing is by itself a political and feminist statement. It means you are saying to males: why it's acceptable that you can swear and I can't, ha? Know what I mean.
And that's how we try to stay fucking sane in this war. Basically, the situation is so unbearable that only swearing gives you some ease. That sank in on my mind after watching the Lebanese movie, 'West Beirut' a year ago. The movie depicts a period of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. The best parts in the movie are the swearing parts, which are put in a compilation video.
I've enjoyed watching the movie, but this clip is really fucking awesome.
