Women and Words in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Arebi embarks on cultural analysis via the literary work of nine contemporary Saudi women writers in this thoughtful and provocative discussion of gender and literary production at a significant historical juncture for Saudi women. The import of this discussion for and about Muslim women, by a Muslim woman, exists not only in its particular country context but also in the troubling debate now raging over personal expression and commitment to "feminist" reform versus Muslim perceptions of a continuing ideological invasion that is heavily influenced by western political hegemony. I need not even mention the name of Taslima Shahin for readers to acknowledge some degree of anguish in our sharp disagreements over the issue of gender versus culture. The voices of these female Saudi writers range from the avant-garde to conservative "journalese," and Arebi contends that they illustrate the complex nature of female discourse in an Arab-Islamic context. However, she seems to have backed into asserting a unique and nonfeminist position for Saudi women, using such slogans as "quality not equality," although the subjects of her study often write otherwise. Arebi arrives at this analytical quandary by a similar route that has been followed by other sincere scholars and observers. As Leila Ahmed commented some years ago: It is only when one considers that one's sexual identity alone (and some would not accept even this) is more inextricably oneself than one's cultural identity, that one can perhaps appreciate how excruciating is the plight of the Middle Eastern feminist caught between those two opposing loyalties, forced almost to choose between betrayal and betrayal ...