Nora Noralla

Nora Noralla is a former Nonresident Fellow at TIMEP focusing on gender and sexuality in the Middle East and North Africa region. She was also the institute’s first Sarah Hegazi Fellow. She is an Egyptian human rights researcher and consultant focusing mainly on issues of sexual and bodily freedoms as well as Islamic Sharia and human rights in the MENA region. Her engagement with the human rights field started in the wake of the January 25 revolution in Egypt. She has worked in different NGOs including Cairo 52 Legal Research Institute, Human Rights Watch, Article 19, and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. She holds a Masters degree in Human Rights Law from the Central European University and has authored different articles and publications including “One True Sharia: A Historical Background” and “El Karakhana: History of Sex Working in Modern Egypt between Legalization and Criminalization.” You can follow her on Twitter: @NoraNoralla.

Articles by: Nora Noralla

The “Chromosome Trap”: Anti-Trans Narratives and Policy in Egypt

Access to gender-affirming healthcare in Egypt is hobbled by medical policy that emphasizes the “chromosome trap” and thus disqualifies potential trans patients. What are, then, consequences for trans people and communities across...

Policies of Erasure: How the MENA’s Region Intersex People Are Made Invisible

Even if a person is intersex, they are still expected to be assigned a binary gender identity that they must adhere to, in order to avoid being stigmatized.

Inside Egypt’s Feminist Washing

In recent years, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's regime has been pushing a selective implementation of feminist ideals and women’s rights to conceal its ever-worsening human rights record in Egypt. This "feminist-washing" propaganda claims...