Nawal El Saadawi
Nawal El Saadawi
Nawal El Saadawi was an Egyptian feminist writer, activist and physician. She wrote numerous books on the subject of women in Islam, focusing on the concerns of women in the Global South pertaining to sexuality, patriarchy, social class, and colonialism.
"Her voice continued to echo in my ears, vibrating in my head, in the cell, in the prison, in the streets, in the whole world, shaking everything, spreading fear wherever it went, the fear of the truth which kills, the power of truth, as savage, and as simple, and as awesome as death, yet as simple and as gentle as a child that has not yet learnt to lie."
"All my life I have been searching for something that would fill me with pride, make me feel superior to everyone else, including kings, princes and rulers."
"Do you prefer oranges or tangerines?"
"Life is very hard. The only people who really live are those who are harder than life itself."
"Yet not for a single moment did I have any doubts about my own integrity and honour as a woman. I knew that my profession had been invented by men, and that men were in control of both our worlds, the one on earth, and the one in heaven. That men force women to sell their bodies at a price, and that the lowest paid body is that of a wife. All women are prostitutes of one kind or another."
"Every single man I did get to know filled me with but one desire: to lift my hand and bring it smashing down on his face."
