Oppression
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.
El Saadawi believes (1980) that religion is used as a shackle upon the mind of patriarchal society in order to oppress, dictate, dominate and domesticate women (p. 98). Religion has led people to believe that women are the roots of all evil. They are filled with lustful behaviors and they are filled with evil and Satan. In a way, women are seen as disciples of Satan. It is a ma’s job to control them. The male dominated society reinforces the idea that women must be pure, chaste and virginal in order to be worthy of a man. These puritanical values are utilized “to build on oppression and are still part of the arsenal of heavy weapons which maintains a continuous barrage in the war against revolutionary struggles of women, colored races and the exploited classes living under the semi-feudal or imperialism and neo-colonialism (El Saadawi. 1980, p. 98).” “I did not know anything about the operation at the time, except that it man whom I would marry to be repelled by me.” “Did you believe what was be removed and so had become clean and pure (El Saadawi. 1980, p. 35).” As El Saadawi points out (1980), God exalts man in His Bible as one of high intelligence and on if thought, where as a woman is just a body without a head (p. 103). Fir example, in Christianity “God had created man in his own image, and God was spirit. Woman on the hand was the body, and the body was sex (El Saadawi. 1980, p. 95)” In other words, men is the depiction of God, where as women are just a deviation of men. Women are born without an essential factor, a head and therefore, she is not complete because a head is the center of thought, which distinguishes humans from animal. It is based on this fact that it is believed that women should be circumcised. Since a woman is of the flesh, she must be rid of anything that will give her sexual pleasure. With the Sudan culture, girls are forced to undergo an amputation of her whole external organs. This includes cutting off her “clitoris, the two outer lips and the two minor inner lips. The wound is repaired. The outer opening of the vagina is the only portion left intact, not however without ensured that, during the process of repairing, some narrowing of the opening is carried out with a few extra stitches (El Saadawi. 1980, p. 9).” her behavior would become bad, and she would starting running after men,
Some common words found in the essay are:
El Saadawi, Hidden Eve, el saadawi, , el saadawi 1980, saadawi 1980, Nephertiti Hatchipsoot, Adam Eve, Due Circumcision, Christianity Islam, male dominated, male dominated society, dominated society, Saadawi Nawal, Mother Teresa, Nawal El, nawal el saadawi, society women, patriarchal system, oppression women, nawal el, women women, saadawi 1980 33”, break tradition, saadawi 1980 4”,
Approximate Word count = 2522
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
