wi. 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...