Honour And Shame

A unique and often shocking testimony, Honour and Shame gives access for the first time to the world of Iraqi women. Ranging from executives to illiterate housewives, the women speak with extraordinary frankness of sex and marriage, physical and mental violence, the fear of scandal, and their indoctrination into the ideology of honour and shame.

Their words are frequently moving: 'We started to have problems the first day we met. He raped me in the train on our wedding day. I was 13 years old.' 'Sex is the most important thing to my husband. He always wants me to dress up in my sexiest nightgown and respond happily and willingly to all his desires...To tell you the truth, I don't care much about sex.' 'He beats me whenever he feels angry or upset. I always forgive him. I say to myself, where can I go after all?'

On the basis of an in-depth study conducted over several years, the author -who herself comes from this society- builds a picture of Iraqi women's lives from birth to old age. Although the book's main focus is on Iraq, there are many thought-provoking cross-cultural comparisons between Third World women and women in Western societies.