Meryam Bnyamin, Period 8, 4/7/2022

Meryam Bnyamin 

4/7/2022

Socio-political Consciousness 

Blog #4

For as long as I can remember, two parts of my identity have been the most defining: my gender and my ethnicity. Growing up as a middle-eastern girl was not ideal, to say the least. In every aspect of my life, I find these two fundamental parts of me following me. Many women who share this with me tend to agree. A couple of weeks ago, my sister had recommended the book  Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi. This book follows the story of a woman named Firdaus who is on death row for murder, and after being silent for so many years, she is ready to tell her story. The book is based on a devastatingly true story that unfortunately reflects on the lives of so many women in the middle east. Reading this book was a startling wake-up call and a reality check on my privileges. I grew up in America, in an environment that is drastically different from where my mother grew up, for example. An average woman in the middle east faces day-to-day oppression that can be difficult to imagine. I find that in western society, this isn’t talked about as much as it should. 

Back to the book, Firdaus has spent her life being abused and assaulted by the men around her. Her retaliation to this was to murder her abuser, which was the only escape from her situation. While her story is heartbreaking, I find there to be moments where her resilience is inspiring. Her ability to push through and find solutions left me in awe. How could someone who had been through the unimaginable gather the courage to share her story? The most awful part is, that there are millions of women like Firdaus. Let’s put the situation in Egypt into perspective. 92% of women in Egypt have experienced genital mutilation. The gathered statistic is that 37% of Arab women have been assaulted or abused, but there's a good chance that number is much, much higher. It is reported that 6 out of 10 victims of assault stay silent, and countries in the Middle East make it difficult to report their situation. This means we have millions of women who share similar stories to Firdaus’. So why does Nawal el Saadawi tell this one specifically? 

For some context, Nawal El Saadawi was a prominent Egyptian feminist author and psychiatrist. Her life had been dedicated to sharing the brutal truth for women in the Middle East, no matter the cost to her. Despite being imprisoned for her writing, there was no topic she shied away from. I couldn’t say I know the exact reason she wrote this book, but I think sometimes it takes something shockingly horrifying for people to open their eyes to the atrocities that exist in the same world as them. A situation doesn’t seem so impossible or uncommon when it's put from an individual perspective. At least, this is the impact the book had on me. I realized the privileges I take for granted. How many opportunities do I have in America that my mother and her mother didn’t have? That I likely wouldn’t have had if my family hadn’t moved? I don’t think women in America have anywhere near the privilege of the average white man, but the reality for women in the Middle East is nowhere near better. In Modern Mythology, we often discuss what it means to be a hero. Women like Nawal El Saadawi, women who share those experiences and overcome them are heroes that deserve more recognition.