All the men I did get to know, every single man of them, has filled me with but one desire: to lift my hand and bring it smashing down on his face.

When my second husband shouted, 'Me or your writing!' I replied, 'My writing.' We separated.

First of all, I hated the medical profession. Medical education in Egypt was taken from the British, French, colonial educational system. And it's very, very lacking - there is no sexology. I never read the word clitoris in any medical book when I was educated.

moral codes and standards in our societies very rarely apply to all people equally. This is the most damning proof of how immoral such codes and standards really are.

Words should not seek to please, to hide the wounds in our bodies, or the shameful moments in our lives. They may hurt, give us pain, but they can also provoke us to question what we have accepted for thousands of years.

Home to me is the world because my books have been translated into more than 30 languages.

In history, the millions win; that is democracy.