Popular culture, particularly its gendered dimensions, remains relatively understudied in the field of Middle East studies, including Middle East gender studies. Yet it provides a fruitful arena for understanding the construction and reproduction of dominant gender norms, as well as their contestation and subversion. This was especially apparent in the wake of the Arab uprisings, when different forms of creative expression—such as graffiti and independent music—flourished, and popular media openly addressed previously taboo issues, namely, the phenomenon of sexual violence. Ostensibly a field of entertainment, popular culture creates possibilities of reaching new audiences as more institutionalized feminist activism, such as lobbying for legal reforms, may struggle to do. The relationship between popular culture and gender norms and identities is one of the subjects addressed in Politics and Popular Culture in Egypt: Contested Narratives of the 25 January 2011 Revolution and Its Aftermath, a three-and-a-half-year research project that, between June...

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