1980, p. 33).”Due to Circumcision, girls are subjected to a series of pain humiliation because of the notion of how virginity is valued. Many girls believed that the genital was a root of all evil. El Saadawi had many patients, bleeding from infection but happy to get rid of the source of their desire. For example:“I did not know anything about the operation at the time, except that itwas very simple, and that it was done to all girls for purposes of cleanlinessand purity and the preservation of a good reputation. It was said that a girlwho did not undergo this operation was liable to be talked about by people,her behavior would become bad, and she would starting running after men,with the result that no one would agree to marry her when the time formarriage came. My grandmother told me that the operation had onlyconsisted in the removal of a very small piece of flesh from between mythighs, and that the continued existence of this small piece of flesh in itsplace would have made me unclean and impure, and would have caused theman whom I would marry to be repelled by me.” “Did you believe what wassaid to you?” “Of course I did. I was happy the day I recovered from theeffects of the operation and felt as though I was rid of something which had tobe removed and so had become clean and pure (El Saadawi. 1980, p. 35).”El Saadawi knew from experience what many of these girls are going through because she went through the same experience. She could never forget the painful experience that made her lose her “childhood once and for all, and that deprived me during my youth and for many years of married life from enjoying the fullness of me sexuality and the completeness of life that can only come from all round psychological equilibrium (El Saadawi. 1980, p. 9).”Nawal El Saadawi believes that religion is used as an instrument in order to justify why the girls in the Arab societies a...
