I think my life is divided into two parts
before May 19 and after May 19.
That day was a simple act of defiance.
To drive a car in the city of Khobar, where no woman can drive
I got over 700,000 views for that video
in one single day.
But the backlash was huge.
I was getting threats to be killed, threats to be raped.
And it was going for two days
even people showing up at my office.
But, days out from D-day this happened.
I asked my brother to take his car and drive with him.
And I wanted to get arrested.
But after I was released
the secret police came to my house
and arrested me again.
Without any trial I was sent to jail for driving while female.
I'm a mother of two, I'm 38, I'm a consultant
and I'm still a minor before the law.
Without my brother coming and signing the release papers
I would be still in that jail.
So my problem is not about driving itself
my problem is being considered a property of the men
with a piece of paper that moves me from one man to another.
You only had these pieces of papers when we had slaves.
So you have 9 million women who are still enslaved in my country.
You talk a lot about growing up quite conservative.
Conservative is a nice word, I would say extremist.
Everybody around you would be covering up
Everyone around you wouldn't listen to music
or wouldn't - men and women wouldn't mix or talk with each other.
So you never listened to music as a teenager?
Not at all.
Never?
Not voluntarily, I would say.
The first time I actually listened to music I was at the age of 21, I think.
That was the first time I listened, and it was Backstreet Boys.
'Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely.'
Where did you hear that song?
Oh, my brother!
So there are some people who are immune to the brainwashing
we've been through, in my society.
I think my brother was one of them.
Because I asked him this question I said:
How come with all that things they tell us about
listening to music is like putting lava from Hellfire in your ears?
And he said, my heart, I always loved music.
I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't stop, he said.
He plays guitar, by the way.
He started the first metal band.
He always says, please don't tell people about Backstreet Boys.
He's a metalhead inside.
He's trying to have some credibility, you see.
You're ruining his credibility.
Exactly!
But it's still when I go back home, they still tell me it's hell to listen to music.
So it's interesting that when you leave the city
when you are exposed to the world, when you are exposed to other cultures
how your world really becomes wide and open.
But when you're still in the same city
talking to the same people, the world doesn't really change.
Living inside of Arabia, you can only read the books they want.
You could not watch anything but what the government wants.
In the West you use social media to connect with friends.
The Arabs use it to start revolutions.
I use my face, my voice and my real name.
I was there to speak up for myself.
I used to be ashamed of who I am.
A woman.
But not anymore.
Although like when I'm on the stage, people think
'Oh my god she's so confident.'
I really feel so scared.
You don't look scared.
Exactly! People just say oh you look so confident.
I'm like, you have no clue what I go through before I go onstage.
I think the toughest speech I did was the TED talk.
For me, I'm a proud Saudi woman, and I do love my country
and because I love my country I'm doing this.
Because I believe a society will not be free
if women of that society are not free.
Thank you.
One of my best friends, she never saw my TED talk, she never saw that's what I do.
And she's one of my closet friends.
Her daughter, she called her mum and she says:
I did not know that Auntie Manal gave a TED talk.
And I'm the first Saudi woman to give a TED talk.
She sends the TED talk to her mom, and she asks her to watch it.
And my girlfriend she calls me in tears
and says, 'Manal, I'm so sorry.'
I needed my daughter to change me to understand what you're calling for
and I know my daughter will thank you.
So 15 years later...
I just got goose bumps.
Thank you.
I did.
Fifteen years later, her daughter changed her mom.
Live fast, die young, bad girls do it well.
So, the MIA music video: what did you think about it?
When did you first see it?
If I ever meet MIA, or Mia, I call her
I'm just going to give her a huge hug, and I'm going to squeeze her.
Well, sister power.
It was women coming in solidarity to each other. And I just loved it.
Yeah.
Isn't she awesome in the video?
I think she's awesome, but I think it's even more awesome that your
that your story inspired that music video.
Bad ass!
Yes! It's so bad ass!
Do you think things will change in your country?
Yes, oh my god they're changing.
We're creating change.
First of all -
I love how you answered that, like yes!
Of course.
Definitely!
Of course. So we have beautiful poem in Arabic that say - a love poem.
It says:
And it means, life would be so terrible
if you don't have hope.
When I went out and drove, all my girlfriends were like, you're crazy!
You give up your job, you give up your child, you give up your life
You just loss.
I say, you see it as a loss
I see it as something that your daughter will thank me for.