Gaddafi's Harem, Annick Cojean
I don't know how I feel about this book.
I mean, on the one hand, it's important, it's so important that this kind of story be told. The first half of this book seems to be, and may actually be, in the voice of one of the women of Gaddafi's titular harem, girls kidnapped and kept in his palace as sex slaves. I'm not sure if the author is quoting her or paraphrasing, but it's a brutal, painful story either way. The second half of the book tells more stories of more victims, in a far briefer fashion, and explores how Gaddafi used sex to keep power in Libya.
On the other hand, it feels almost voyueristic? I realize that this may be due to the translator, as the book was originally written in French, but there's very little about how people coped. Soraya goes into some detail in her story, but the other women, we're given details on their abuse and not a lot more. It's a little disheartening; we very rarely see even Soraya talking to other victims, and there's nothing about how they got through it. Granted, this is probably because of the heavy weight of blame still placed on rape victims rather than their perpetrators, and the silence on the subject that still pervades the area.
So I guess it's important that this story be told, that the silence be broken, but I'm a little uncomfortable with how it was written.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/331535.html. Please comment over there if possible.
I mean, on the one hand, it's important, it's so important that this kind of story be told. The first half of this book seems to be, and may actually be, in the voice of one of the women of Gaddafi's titular harem, girls kidnapped and kept in his palace as sex slaves. I'm not sure if the author is quoting her or paraphrasing, but it's a brutal, painful story either way. The second half of the book tells more stories of more victims, in a far briefer fashion, and explores how Gaddafi used sex to keep power in Libya.
On the other hand, it feels almost voyueristic? I realize that this may be due to the translator, as the book was originally written in French, but there's very little about how people coped. Soraya goes into some detail in her story, but the other women, we're given details on their abuse and not a lot more. It's a little disheartening; we very rarely see even Soraya talking to other victims, and there's nothing about how they got through it. Granted, this is probably because of the heavy weight of blame still placed on rape victims rather than their perpetrators, and the silence on the subject that still pervades the area.
So I guess it's important that this story be told, that the silence be broken, but I'm a little uncomfortable with how it was written.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/331535.html. Please comment over there if possible.