Digital Scheherazades in the Arab World Journal
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“Digital Scheherazades in the Arab World” by Fatema Mernissi is about women in the Arab world. Mernissi’s goal was to explain how technology is transforming male and female relationships and the balance of political power in the Arab world. She uses many Arab events and stories throughout her essay. She tells the story 1001 Arabian nights. This story is about a heroine (Scheherazade) and how she is able to out wit the Sultan by telling him interesting stories, and eventually he would fall in love with her. In doing this she sort of “won” against him, a strong Arab man. She has power of him, which was rare in the Arab world. Mernissi compares that story to the women of today who are trying to subtly change the balance of social and political power. Mernissi also points to Zubaida, a woman who “seduced” the Caliph Harun by “digging wells and building walls to provide creature comforts during the hajj in the 8th century AD–a woman who used her own power to effect important change and earn her own respect and admiration, instead of staying locked inside a home, able to speak only when the sun went down.” Mernissi compares this historic figure up as an example to other Arab women and Arab men. She wants Arab men to accept the idea of women holding some power without themselves feeling that there place is threatened in the Arab society.
This was a very interesting read. I love reading feminist and sociology essays. I especially love reading feminist essays from women of color. I really liked the comparison of the tale of Scheherazade and the women of today’s Arab world.