Sex and Lies
True Stories of Women's Intimate Lives in the Arab World
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
"Jaw-dropping . . . Inspiring . . . A haunting and beautifully composed book . . . It blew my mind." --Lisa Taddeo, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Three Women
A fearless exposé of the secrets and lies of women's intimate lives, by the bestselling author of The Perfect Nanny, Adèle, and In the Country of Others
"All those in positions of authority--politicians, parents, teachers--maintain the same line: 'Do what you like, but do it in private.' "
Leila Slimani was in her native Morocco promoting her novel Adèle, about a woman addicted to sex, when she began meeting women who confided the dark secrets of their sexual lives. In Morocco, adultery, abortion, homosexuality, prostitution, and sex outside of marriage are all punishable by law, and women have only two choices: They can be wives or virgins. Sex and Lies combines vivid, often harrowing testimonies with Slimani's passionate and intelligent commentary to make a galvanizing case for a sexual revolution in the Arab world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this powerful collection of first-person testimonials, French-Moroccan novelist Slimani (The Perfect Nanny) exposes the "systemic hypocrisy" of Moroccan attitudes toward female sexuality. On tour to promote her novel Ad le, whose title character suffers from sex addiction, Slimani heard from Moroccan women about their own experiences of adultery, abortion, rape, and marital abuse in a society where strict laws and "cult of purity" concepts govern public life, yet actual behavior follows the principle "do what you like, but do it in private." She also interviews a Casablancan prostitute and an unmarried doctor, and brings in the perspectives of a female Islamic scholar and the host of a sex advice radio show. Slimani asserts that limited sexual education for both boys and girls perpetuates misogyny and gender discrimination, that draconian yet widely disregarded laws create a risk that authorities will discover illicit sexual behavior and use it as a way to exercise control over women, and that the antisexual attitudes of political Islam do not match the eroticism of the Koran. Balancing potent anecdotal accounts with incisive cultural analysis, Slimani makes a persuasive case that breaking the silence around sexuality is essential to advancing Muslim women's social and economic rights. This eye-opening account strikes a resounding chord.
