Template: Royal A, Font: , Date: 07/09/2013; 3B2 version: 9.1.406/W Unicode (May 24 2007) (APS_OT) Dir: //integrafs1/kcg/2-Pagination/TandF/GEN_RAPS/ApplicationFiles/9780415527699.3d 52 Gendering the Arab Spring Arab women journalists/activists, “cyberfeminism,” and the socio-political revolution Sahar Khamis Any observer of the so-called Arab Spring, the massive wave of political revolt that has been sweeping the Arab region since 2011, could not help but notice the visible role that women have been playing in it. Hundreds of thousands of Arab women throughout the region, including in some of the most traditional, conservative countries, like Yemen and Bahrain, took to the streets, alongside men, calling for an end to dictatorship and repression and demanding dignity and freedom (Khamis 2011; Radsch 2011, 2012). In doing so, they were not confining themselves to ste- reotypical gender roles, such as nurturing or supporting men in their struggle for freedom. Rather, they were often in the front lines of resistance, risking their lives, exposed to the dangers of arrest or assault. The Arab Spring unveiled “numerous examples of courageous Arab women heroes risking not only their reputation but also their physical safety for the sake of reform” (Al-Malki et al. 2012: 81). However, beside this political struggle that has been, and still is, taking place in many parts of the Arab world an equally pressing gender-specific struggle is ongoing, namely: women’s struggle to secure political and social gains despite many chal- lenges, such as reactionary social forces, the rise of political Islam, the imposition of a top-down cosmetic feminism, which only serves those in power, and an unsafe public space, which poses the risk of rape, humiliation, and harassment. Although Arab women fought alongside men to overcome dictatorship and autocracy, “unlike men, women face two battles: the first for political change and the second to obtain a real change of their societal status to become fully equal to their male counterparts” (Alamm 2012: 14). Here I explore, through in-depth personal interviews, how a group of young Arab women journalists/activists from Egypt, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain are rede- fining activism, empowerment, and resistance, and their perceptions of the most important opportunities, threats, and uncertainties for women in their countries. Most importantly, I analyze their reliance on “cyberfeminism” (Daniels 2009; Fernandez et al. 2003; Gajjala 2003) to launch a parallel socio-political revolution, 565