Women and Words in Saudi Arabia By Saddeka Arebi. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994, 329pp.

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 ...