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A review by kev_nickells
سوبرمان عربي by Joumana Haddad, جمانة حداد
4.0
She's described as 'Lebanon's Germaine Greer' on the sleeve and it's partway correct, in that she's got a great line in gobshitery. But she's also not like Greer in the way that you probably want her to be not like Greer.
This is possibly closer to pop-feminism than academic stuff, but only insofar as her tone is a lot more engaging, journalistic and her points pithy, witty. I picked it up because I'm interested in perspectives on feminism from outside of the UK. Lebanon isn't so far away in lots of regards but there's plenty I don't know much about - Islam-informed jurisprudence in Arabic countries. And while she's a Catholic there's a good amount of knowledge on Islamic and Arabic history and how it ends up being a shitty stick for women.
It's interesting - and apologies if I'm not wording this carefully - to read someone's perspective on (culturally or politically) enforced female modesty in Arabic countries - I see people writing about this but typically not from a culture or country that practices it, so it reads like white saviourism rather than actual feminism. But also she quotes Hitchens a few times so I'm not entirely sold.
It's ultimately about the breakdown in communications between genders, her disappointment at discrepancies in sexualities for straight men and women. She's explicitly not TERFy but doesn't go far into queer positions - which is, y'know, fair enough. While there's plenty here that is stuff that's fairly well-heeled - the duplicity of the male gaze, the impossibility of the slut/virgin expectation - she's really tastefully about reconciliation. She doesn't think men or women are specifically bad but that everyone's capable of doing better.
Worth a flutter if you fancy, and it's only wee.
This is possibly closer to pop-feminism than academic stuff, but only insofar as her tone is a lot more engaging, journalistic and her points pithy, witty. I picked it up because I'm interested in perspectives on feminism from outside of the UK. Lebanon isn't so far away in lots of regards but there's plenty I don't know much about - Islam-informed jurisprudence in Arabic countries. And while she's a Catholic there's a good amount of knowledge on Islamic and Arabic history and how it ends up being a shitty stick for women.
It's interesting - and apologies if I'm not wording this carefully - to read someone's perspective on (culturally or politically) enforced female modesty in Arabic countries - I see people writing about this but typically not from a culture or country that practices it, so it reads like white saviourism rather than actual feminism. But also she quotes Hitchens a few times so I'm not entirely sold.
It's ultimately about the breakdown in communications between genders, her disappointment at discrepancies in sexualities for straight men and women. She's explicitly not TERFy but doesn't go far into queer positions - which is, y'know, fair enough. While there's plenty here that is stuff that's fairly well-heeled - the duplicity of the male gaze, the impossibility of the slut/virgin expectation - she's really tastefully about reconciliation. She doesn't think men or women are specifically bad but that everyone's capable of doing better.
Worth a flutter if you fancy, and it's only wee.