Disillusionment Arises On Multiple Occasions

The past has shown that women were the leaders of the society. Childbirth was mysterious situation, but highly desired by all thus women were goddesses. Sometime in the last five thousand years, men discovered the rule they could have. Here began the trials a woman faces through the newly discovered patriarchal way. Female mutilation began as a way to reduce the power women could hold, a discrimination that lead to the pain and suffering of thousands, millions of women across the ages. Today, some where between one hundred to one hundred forty women have been subjected to this awful treatment created by men as a way to hold power over the women who gave them life. During the Enlightenment period, John Locke, an English philosopher, said, “All mankind... being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.” No should be harmed because of

In Ending Footbinding and Infibulation: A Convention Account, Mackie (1996) examines the practices of female foot binding in China, and infibulation in Africa. Specifically, the paper considers the conditions which brought these practices about, how foot binding came to an end, and why infibulation still persists. Mackie offers his 'convention account' and asserts that such practices are self-enforcing conventions which are perpetuated by interdependent expectations on the marriage market (Mackie 1996: 999). In doing so, Mackie primarily applies a rational choice paradigm in his examination, while also utilising structural functionalist and hermeneutic paradigms. Ultimately, I will posit that this synthesis of paradigms provides an effective

“She’s asking for it.” That’s what society has to say about rape culture and demoralization of women. From the young age of eight, a young girl has begun to feel shameful of her body. She no longer feels comfortable in her own skin. She lives in fear as to wonder what consequences she shall face today. She will begin to see herself as a lesser value to the world. She must be a “lady”, thus meaning she no longer can sit how she wants nor wear what she wants. All young girls will face this same epidemic for the world’s view on women and their bodies as objects.

Across the globe, women of all walks of life are constantly oppressed by their male counterparts, shamed for actions frowned upon simply because of the double standards they are assigned since birth. In many cultures, women are viewed below men, and as a result they are forced to cater to all of the unfair expectations that men demand from them. One of the most popular and universal expectations is the belief that a woman must retain her virginity until marriage. In Half The Sky, women who disobeyed these unwritten laws of society faced the most extreme and harsh consequences. In one instance, a girl named Du’a Aswad went out late with a boy, and didn’t return until the morning. It was immediately assumed that she had slept with him, despite

    Inasmuch as a woman’s virginity or chastity is imagined as an object that can be "owned," rape becomes a property crime, consisting in the theft of a woman’s "virtue" from its rightful "owner," her male guardian. Bernice Harris articulates this view with respect to Titus Andronicus: "The definition of the word is based on ownership: ‘rape’ is an appropriate term only if what is taken is not rightfully owned" (388). The man who can claim ownership of a woman is subsequently "dishonored" when she is violated: "‘Honour,’ then, is a function of ownership" (389).

An individual’s impression of control over and ownership of their own body is essential to their feeling of autonomy. Without some sense of bodily autonomy, it is difficult for individuals to establish their own emotional autonomy. Throughout history, this bodily autonomy has been impaired by sexual control and dominance. By painting dystopian societies that heavily restrict reproduction and sexuality, Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, her poem A Woman’s Issue, and George Orwell’s 1984 all convey that sexual repression undermines individual identity and autonomy.

The main character, Christian, exploits her girlfriend. Specifically, Christian use alcohol to influence Ana`s decision to engage in sexual activities (James, 2015). As a result, Christian spanks and abuse her sexually. The actions of Christian mirror that current social injustices that women face in the society. Most men drug women before harassing them sexually. Nonetheless, a majority of perpetrators of these heinous acts escape punishments as law enforcers, and some societal rules do not protect women. On the contrary, they believe that men have authority over women. Therefore, different nations support prostitution that promotes sexual harassment of women.

Being a woman in an already constrained society led to many problems, to the point where Ghada felt her only escape was to stab a soldier. Although unsuccessful, Ghada’s desperate attempt displays the burdens placed on Palestinian women and the realities of what they must deal with everyday under Israeli control. Ghada was forced to stay in an unhappy marriage with her cousin, whose mother she did not get along with. This relationship was also strained by the fact that she was separated from her family by a border controlled by the Israelis. Ghada's options for a successful divorce were limited in the sense that if she requested the separation, she would have to give up the second half of her dowry, which would have a negative financial consequence for herself and her family. Along with that, her reputation would be tarnished in the village, which would make it very difficult for Ghada to make it on her own. All of these consequences of a female initiated divorce offers an insight to how women are regarded in the modern Middle East. They are restricted in all aspects of life, whether it is socially or economically, by their communities and government

The thousand and one nights offered an interesting prospective on the roles of women in the Muslim culture at the time. The woman in the tale ranges from wives, concubines, slave-girls, and even demon-woman, but all of them even the educated and wise Shahrazad is expected to have very little say and their lives are for the most part subject to the whims their husbands and fathers. One could even say that in the society set up in the story their very existence are meant to be that of a trinket, to be looked at not heard and seen as a show of a man’s strength and power. Every time the story speaks of a man with power and success there are mentions of a slave girl or mistress “once there was a merchant who had abundant wealth and investments …….he had many women and children and kept servants and slaves…”.the male sexuality is seen as natural and expected, but whenever a female tries to express her sexuality or independence she is looked down on even if she is the victim in the situation like the demons prisoner.

This construction reinforces control over young women’s sexual expression. Faus highlights how it forces women to partake in this patriarchal culture where women’s bodies are under control

Female oppression is just as strong in tribal settings as it is elsewhere, which is evident in Possessing the Secret of Joy. Tashi at a young age undergoes female circumcision, this decision haunts her for the rest of her life. She struggles to understanding herself, her family, her culture, the meaning of joy, and most importantly the role of women. Though Tashi was pressured into circumcision she was never forced. “To be accepted as a real woman by the Olinka people; to stop the jeering. Otherwise I was a thing.” (Walker, Possessing the Secret of Joy 120). Tashi’s struggles in life starts with a procudure that to her is her way of uniting herself with her tribe, culture, and most importantly being loyal to her male tribal leader. When in fact, she is being put down and abused. Her male dominated society, has drilled inside the heads of the girls that they have to change their bodies in order to be considered as real women. Dehuminizing women can be considerd as a tactic the tribe utlizies to stop women from becoming independant. There is no eqaulity witihin the tribe, no woman has the right to be stronger than her husband.

To establish of whether Firdaus is a flat character or a round one, we would first have to come to terms with the multiple, overlapping network of knowledges which continuously disrupt any singular reading of her. What I mean by this is that Firdaus, the text which she resides in, and the author that has produced her are situated within discourse the West (and the East as its ideological shadow), the Arab world (specifically Egypt), and the feminist subject that both strive to produce; that these discourses work in many ways to contest each other brings into question of their validity. It is to this point which I argue that flat or round characters are not static ontologies but produce alternative reading of effaced or obscured by other in

On describing her captivity in marriage Firdaus also states 'A virtuous woman was not supposed to complain about her husband, her duty was perfect obedience.', thus, in order to be 'good' one must be totally submissive. This description of a virtuous woman shows how ingrained social expectations were in the society of 1970's , if one must be perfectly obedient to one other person at all times, then obviously they are captive in both expectations and duty, a duty that was for Firdaus, forced upon her. The captivity is not physical, but rather mental and inflicted onto Firdaus from societal expectations. Firdaus later reflects upon the captivity she felt in her marriage stating “I would rather be a free prostitute than an enslaved wife.” The adjective 'enslaved' shows that Firdaus believes wives to be, literal slaves, captive in their marriage. Stating she would prefer to be a prostitute instead of a wife is shocking to a western reader, as generally being a wife is thought to be freer and safer than having to sell your body. Al Sadawi in this phrase not only shocks the reader, but further introduces the reader to the foreign paradigm of a middle-eastern wife and the sheer desperation due to captivity experienced.

A woman does not own her body, instead her body is owned by the inhabitants of her surroundings and the surrounding itself: men, children, the government, and even karma. When I mention the body I am not only addressing the anatomical body, but also the conceptual body which is entwined with the physical representation of feminine concepts. Sandra Lee Bartky states that “femininity is an artifice, an achievement ‘a mode of enacting and reenacting received gender norms which surface as so many styles of the flesh”’(Holloway 30). Female bodies are like clay that is molded overtime to fulfill another’s wish or need. Femininity stems from a submissive root. For a woman to be feminine means she has to be the backbone while her husband is the head to dedicating her body to birth until she is barren and it means that she is everything, but herself. A traditional feminine mindset subscribes to an abusive ideology implemented by men that believes those with a vagina must submit to the will of men. Through analyzing Fuyuko Matsui’s String Figuring Woman, I want to explore how women can reclaim and subvert the feminine identity through violence.

The woman occupies a unique role in the process of exchange. She has a “dual-relation” to capitalist culture as she both consumes it herself, but is physically used as a commodity in it as well (Roberts 88). Due to this “dual-relation”, she is able to move through the classes in a manner similar to a commodity. Her mobility is performative and relies on surface appearances. In Woman at Point Zero, Firdaus explains to the woman interviewing her that because of the wealth she earned in prostitution she purchased expensive beauty products that allowed her to play the part of an upper-class woman despite her middle-class education and lower class background (Sadaawi “Point Zero” 14). As an object, a simple manipulation of her appearance can alter her value. However her position is twofold. Not only is she a commodity, but she is a laborer as well, performing a service for the acquisition of money. Firdaus equates all female workers to prostitutes (Sadaawi “Point Zero” 124). In the eyes of the patriarchy women are “instruments of pleasure, passion, and sexual satisfaction, or receptacles for bearing children, or commodities to be bought and sold in the marriage market” (Sadaawi “Hidden Face” 77). A woman worked is still under the patriarchal control of the management and due to the oversexed culture, her body is still abused. The female employee offers up her body to men above her within the company for job security or a minimal pay raise. Firdaus resists objectifying herself in