Arab Society Essay Research Paper Evil sinful

Arab Society Essay, Research Paper

Evil, sinful, lover of Satan and weak are just a few adjectives to describe

women through history. Nevertheless, women were not always portrayed as so.

Women once held a strong and dominated figure within the society. In the ancient

Egyptian society, women were equal to men in status and prestige. Within the

XVIIIth Dynasty, women such as Nephertiti and Hatchipsoot reign the country.

.In that period, Pharaonic women laboured in textile and carpet manufactory,

traded in markets and shared in hunting side by side with her husband (El

Saadawi. 1980, P. 108-1).. Furthermore, women played sports, drank, held

positions of government, worked, etc. However, as time past and countries began

to flourish, there was a shift in the socio-economic status in women. Women

began reducing in standing. What happened. Nawal El Saadawi, author of The

Hidden Face of Eve, strongly believes that circumcision is the cause of

women.s oppression and feeling of powerlessness. However, many within the

society believe that conditioned oppression is supported due to religion,

landowership and the patriarchal system and they are utilized as in instrument

of fear, oppression and exploitation. Circumcision is still practiced in many

Arab countries because a woman.s virginity and hymen is extremely important.

.Behind circumcision lies the belief that, by removing parts of girls.

external genital organs, sexual desire is minimized (El Saadawi. 1980, p.

33).. This procedure is not performed by a doctor but someone similar to a

midwife. It is believe that deep incisions must be done in order to remove all

the remains of the genital. Consequently, this may result in infection and even

death. Furthermore, .sexual frigidity is one of the after-effects which is

accentuated by other social and psychological factors that influence the

personality and mental make-up of females in Arab societies (El Saadawi. 1980,

p. 33).. Due to Circumcision, girls are subjected to a series of pain

humiliation because of the notion of how virginity is valued. Many girls

believed that the genital was a root of all evil. El Saadawi had many patients,

bleeding from infection but happy to get rid of the source of their desire. For

example: .I did not know anything about the operation at the time, except that

it was very simple, and that it was done to all girls for purposes of

cleanliness and purity and the preservation of a good reputation. It was said

that a girl who did not undergo this operation was liable to be talked about by

people, her behavior would become bad, and she would starting running after men,

with the result that no one would agree to marry her when the time for marriage

came. My grandmother told me that the operation had only consisted in the

removal of a very small piece of flesh from between my thighs, and that the

continued existence of this small piece of flesh in its place would have made me

unclean and impure, and would have caused the man whom I would marry to be

repelled by me.. .Did you believe what was said to you.. .Of course I

did. I was happy the day I recovered from the effects of the operation and felt

as though I was rid of something which had to be removed and so had become clean

and pure (El Saadawi. 1980, p. 35).. El Saadawi knew from experience what many

of these girls are going through because she went through the same experience.

She could never forget the painful experience that made her lose her

.childhood once and for all, and that deprived me during my youth and for many

years of married life from enjoying the fullness of me sexuality and the

completeness of life that can only come from all round psychological equilibrium

(El Saadawi. 1980, p. 9).. Nawal El Saadawi believes that religion is used as

an instrument in order to justify why the girls in the Arab societies are forced

to go through circumcision. Once religion was formulated as a monotheistic one,

the three main religions of the world developed Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The world begins with .Adam and Eve. and this story is shared within all

three religions. The story of Adam and Eve is the first sign that women are

portrayed as less than a man. The Bible takes away a factor that was associated

with women, birth. However, .Eve was born of Adam.s rib (El Saadawi. 1980,

P. 102).. In the Judaism religion, arose the notion that .women was sinful

and that sex was sin (El Saadawi. 1980, p. 95). According to El Saadawi (1980)

this story .shows clearly the injustice suffered by women, and the attempt to

mask her situation by religious sanctification aimed at smothering all doubt,

all discussion and all resistance (p. 102).. In other words, within this male

dominated society, women are being circumcised not because it is being enforced

by men, but the Bible dictates it to be so. That is what they like eve

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