Review: Nawal El Saadawi's 'Woman at Point Zero'

Nawal El Saadawi, an Egyptian physician, writer, and social activist, is one of the most influential feminists in the Arab world. She fought for decades against patriarchal systems and repressive laws, even experiencing imprisonment for defending women's rights. Her famous quote, 'I speak the truth, and the truth is wild and dangerous,' reflects her fearless spirit.

Hasht-e Subh reviews her book 'Woman at Point Zero,' which recounts the life of Firdaus but serves as a mirror to the shared experiences of women in patriarchal societies. The narrative illustrates that women's suffering transcends geographical borders, with suppressed emotions, dashed hopes, and bruises from beatings by fathers, brothers, husbands, and even sons highlighting violence against women as a collective experience.

Firdaus endures sexual violence, discrimination, and social injustices from childhood through imprisonment and execution. Rejected repeatedly in her early years, she tastes poverty and upheaval without formal lessons on patriarchal society. Humiliated and suppressed by her father, uncle, husband, and community, she recalls: 'Once he attacked me with a shoe sole. My face and body swelled and bruised. I left the house and went to my uncle's. But my uncle said all men beat their wives. My aunt agreed, saying her husband often beat her. I said my uncle, a respected and literate sheikh, wouldn't beat his wife. She replied that precisely such men beat their wives. Religious laws permit it. A good, obedient wife shouldn't complain about her husband; she must be fully submissive.'

Through her experiences, Firdaus discerns society's harsh realities, developing disdain for men and the male-dominated society. In her teens, she reads history books about Iranians, Turks, Arabs, kings' atrocities, wars, revolutionaries, and romantic poetry, concluding that rulers think of war, killing, or sex. She generalizes this to her community, observing respected men, sheikhs, and officials beating or humiliating women, or paying prostitutes while deeming them impure.

Despite a high school diploma, Firdaus cannot attend university due to her uncle's objection to her sitting beside men. Forced to marry an older sheikh to relieve her uncle's burden, she enters a home where her body satisfies a man's desires.