In Nawal El-Saddawi’s short story, “In Camera”, we see a depiction of the social system in the Arabic countries and how it oppresses and discriminates women when they defy the system. In traditional Arab society, women were treated unequally, especially in the political world. Leila, the protagonist is on trial for challenging the system by calling God, or the king “stupid”. Because of this remark, she was arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and raped. Throughout the story, we see the pain and suffering she endured in prison and just how much it traumatized her as she sits in the courtroom.
Furthermore, we can see that in this society, women were not treated as humans, but they were treated as animals. The quotation: “For the first time she understood that the human body differed from that of an animal in one important way – sitting. No animal could sit like the way she could, if it did, what would it do with its four legs?” (1108). shows the degradation of women by comparing women to animals and how the one important difference between them is the way they sit and not how they are treated. El Saddawi wanted to compare Leila to an animal to show how undervalued she was as a human.
The conversation between the rapist and Leila also showed that women’s role in society were insignificant and how women were undervalued. One of the rapists lying on top of her said: “This is the way we torture you women – by depriving you of the most valuable thing you possess” (1113). Despite the continuously painful suffering, she managed to talk back and say, “You fool! The most valuable thing I possess in not between my legs, you’re all stupid. And the most stupid among you is the one who leads you” (1113). Leila might have been broken physically, but she was not broken mentally. Her willpower gave her strength and her faith and desire to fight for their freedom of self-expression and end oppression, discrimination, and inequality.