Medusa’s Tears _ Part 2
Lilith: The Naked Face of Eve – Aya AlMohtadi
A brief historical account on the oppression of women is worthy of attention as it brings to the fore the incentives behind centering the marginalization of women as a topic in the feminist literary-political climate, and Nawal El Saadawi traces this pertinently in her The Hidden Face of Eve. Prior to investigating the ways in which female oppression is showcased, it is imperative to point out that the book was originally titled ‘The Naked Face of Eve’ later euphemized into the more acceptable antonym ‘hidden’ (Amireh, 2000). Though contradictory, both the adjectives ‘hidden’ and ‘naked’ serve the same purpose of exposure, for a hidden face is written to be revealed much like a naked face is already laid out for the seeing. Yet for patriarchal reasons, presenting a body of work behind a veil to be lifted is much more acceptable than having it enter the stage readily unclad, veneer-gone, veil-lifted—despite the latter being the primordial truth.
It is also noteworthy of mentioning that the semantic switch occurred after the translation from Arabic to English so as to make the reading better suited to a Western readership. Two chapters were also omitted for the Western audience (Amireh, 2000). Delving into the incentives behind such omissions and alterations demands that one acknowledges the illusory divide established between the oriental and occident woman via political, social and literary perceptions, and allows us to revisit such a relationship in a light that is non-discriminatory albeit being unlevelled. In other words, the oriental woman is no less human than the western one, she is just treated as such. And here an interesting question arises: how much does one go out of the way to indict the oppressed woman for the crimes which were inflicted upon her?
In The Hidden Face of Eve, Saadawi showcases how women were held accountable for being victims of oppression. She recounts the story of one woman who was found dead by an honor killing due to her illegitimate pregnancy (1977). Yet after her body was dissected and inspected by a medical physician at the morgue, it was revealed that she was not pregnant and the swelling in the belly is the accumulation of months of menstrual blood trapped behind a thick, non-perforated hymen.
Another story narrates the event of a girl being dragged by her family to the gynecologist to affirm her virginity. Once his affirmations were in the negative, she was murdered the very next day by her cousin despite her protestations of innocence. The coroner’s examination refuted the gynecologist and proved that his diagnosis has been incorrect (Saadawi, 1977). These are two of the many incidents where either nature or medical error had brought a girl to her deathbed, let alone the cases where a woman is raped and has to conceal the shameful truth until the marriage night persecutes her.
Among—but not exclusive to—Middle Eastern traditions, it seems to be that paternalistic morals mandate marital virginal conditions on part of the woman, where the chaste prerequisite takes on a religious, societal and ethical value that continues to be largely recognized in our world today (De Beauvoir, 1949). Be it in France or in Egypt, in many parts the neighbors gather around the newly wed couple’s house awaiting the moment where the spouse emerges brandishing with pride a blood-stained white cloth, the confirmation of a virginal marriage now consummated. Beauvoir emphasizes that this representation of marriage, that is the grounding of the sexual act in the precondition of a female’s virginity and its displaying to the surrounding social circles for blessings and approval, blatantly divides human sexuality into ceremonial social and mechanic animal functions. The very fact that the deeply personal sexual act is rendered a social contract divests its parties of the freedom to sexual liberty, a quality which humanist morality highly upholds. The sexual act can be only humanized when a partner comes to view the other as an individual rather than a vessel to be redeemed and approved of by society, religion, or tradition (Beauvoir, 1949). The perpetual necessity to signature stamp through religion or society a seal of approval on a sexual act should it meet their criteria of marital purity strips the sexual act of humanistic eroticism and reduces it to a mere animal relation performed to appease desires existing outside itself.
The allocation of the seal’s burden, however, demands equal distribution should biology be the determining factor in dictating matters of chastity and promiscuity; both men’s and women’s reproductive organs carry no significant indication as far as sexual activity is concerned. Holding up the condition of the hymen bleeding upon a marriage’s consummation is not an equal opportunity identifier, given that many women’s hymens are elastic and thus do not bleed and many women are born with no hymens at all. It comes with great surprise, then, that the burden of the sexual act falls heavily—if not exclusively—on the female gender for a biological marker that is rooted in fallacy and myth.
With women painted in such a light which not only sees them as inferior to men but objectifies them to a point where their entire honor and dignity becomes centered in the very fine membrane of the hymen. This has been true for all women in pre-modern times and still holds true in the 21st century for women in the Orient. In any case, the global woman still happens to be demoted to a subhuman level, posing in the light of humanity as second-hand, means to end, and disposable.
Bibliography
Amireh, A., 2000. Framing Nawal El Saadawi: Arab Feminism in a Transnational World. Univeristy of Chicago Press.
Bevan, R., 2019. This Performance Reclaims The Myth Of Medusa After #MeToo.
Chopra, D., 2021. Why We Need The Feminine Divine.
Cixous, H., 1976. The Laugh of Medusa.
Freidan, B., 1963. The Feminine Mystique. s.l.:W.W. Norton & Company.
Kazan, E., 1988. Elia Kazan: A Life. s.l.:Knopf.
Love, Marilyn. 2012. [Film] Directed by Liz Garbus. s.l.: s.n.
Saadawi, N. E., 1977. The Hidden Face of Eve. s.l.:s.n.
Woolf, V., 1929. A Room of One’s Own. In: s.l.:s.n.
مدرسة علم النفس واللغة الإنجليزية (المنهج الأمريكي) – AMSI | المواكب الغرهود (دبي، الإمارات)
قامت بتصميم وتقديم المواد التعليمية لطلاب المرحلة المتوسطة والثانوية (الصفوف 6–12).
أجرت تقييمات تكوينية وختامية لمراقبة تقدم الطلاب.
طبقت استراتيجيات التنوع والشمول بتكييف الدروس للطلاب ذوي الاحتياجات الخاصة.
محاضرة جزئية – جامعة البلمند (الكورة، لبنان؛ سبتمبر 2022 – يونيو 2023)
قدمت محاضرات اللغة الإنكليزية و فنون التواصل الاجتماعي.
تعاونت مع الزملاء في صياغة ومراجعة المجلات الأكاديمية.
قائدة فريق المعلمات – شركة انكليز
أشرفت على تقييمات الجودة للمعلمات على جميع المستويات
أعدت وقدمت تقارير ملاحظات أسبوعية وتقارير تقدم شهرية
