"In his 2013 talk, “Translating for Bigots,” translator Adam Talib suggested there is a “hostility” in the mind of many English-language readers to Arab female characters who don’t fit within passive stereotypes.

Translating Arab women characters is … extremely fraught,” Talib said in his talk at the American University in Cairo. “Why? Because if you’re a reader of modern Arabic literature, you know what happens in modern Arabic literature. People date in modern Arabic literature; people have sex in modern Arabic literature; people drink and take drugs.” He added that when reading passages where women move outside of narrow stereotypes, “the reviewer says, ‘What an unrealistic depiction of Arab women.’”

https://newlinesmag.com/review/who-youre-reading-when-youre-reading-arab-women/