| Chapter : | Introduction |
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The treatment of women as mere “receptacles,” or as unfeeling objects whose satisfaction is irrelevant, is a common theme that feminist Arab writers have combated against. The use of women as means to the end of fulfilling only male sexual desire is unfortunately a feature of many third world communities, and this is often epitomised through the cultural practice of female circumcision (in predominantly North African communities) which moves to literally erase the possibility of clitoral climax and hence pleasure during sexual intercourse of any kind. And although the Arab world has a rich erotological literature which dates as far back as the Abbasid period and continues steadily throughout the centuries, the final decades of the twentieth century witnessed a return to conservatism and the treatment of sex and sexuality as a taboo not to be broached. Majnounak (Crazy for You), a short 1997 film by the Lebanese filmmaker Akram Zaatari, demonstrates the sexual ill-treatment that women receive at the hands of men only interested in fulfilling their own desires and who are indifferent, possibly even contemptuous of, the women who help them attain their pleasure. The social taboo that exists around sex and extra marital relations in particular further helps conceal sexual abuse or mistreatment of women. In one instance, the film conducts what appears to be an unscripted interview with a young man who describes an encounter with a woman of his acquaintance which is a description of sexual assault, even though the narrator of the story does not appear to see any wrongdoing. The speaker narrates the story with significant pride over his accomplishment and is puzzled by the young woman’s refusal to speak to him after the incident despite his repeated attempts to contact her.