I'm currently reading the Hidden Face of Eve (1980), which is clear about the destructive ways religious fundamentalist education and hypocritical values press down on women. Everything is harmful, forbidden, shameful or outlawed by religious tracts. This description of the effects upon women, who have already experienced the psychological harm of female circumcision, usually around the ages of 6-8.
"A slow process of annihilation, a gradual throttling of her personality and mind, leaving intact only the outside shell"
El Saadawi also wrote hard hitting fiction that describes the cruel punishments meted out especially to women
For setting up a magazine 'Confrontation' in 1981, El Saadawi was imprisoned by President Anwar Sadat. Of that experience, El Saadawi said, ‘Danger has been part of my life ever since I picked up a pen and wrote. Nothing is more perilous than truth in a world that lies.'
I am struck by how much things stay the same for women in all cultures across the world, as patriarchy encourages maintenance of its violent boundaries.