Beyond taboos: the female body and social disorder The case of The Story of Zahra by Hanan al-Sheikh

The Story of Zahra is the tale of the journey of a female body, from self-denial to acceptance of intercorporeity. The child, almost oblivious of her own individuality, makes way for a young woman in a state of unease, who deliberately rejects all interaction with others. In doing so, she denies her own existence in a world from which she protects herself by any means possible, until, finally, her long-denied body compels her to accept herself within the world.