 Orientalism concluded that Western writing about " The Orient " depicts the Oriental culture as an irrational , weak and feminized " Other " , an existential condition greatly contrasted with the rational , strong and masculine culture of the " West . " Said says this artificial binary @-@ relation derives from the European psychological need to create a " difference " of cultural inequality between " The West " and " The East " ; this inequality is attributed to immutable cultural " essences " inherent to " Oriental " peoples and things . In 1978 , the intellectual , cultural and commercial success of the book Orientalism assumed historical resonance in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the OPEC petroleum embargo . These recent events had surprised Western countries : Europe and the U.S. did not expect pro @-@ active , decisive and definitive actions from non – Western peoples , whom the ideology of Orientalism had defined as weak societies and impotent countries . For Said , the geopolitical reality of Israeli military and Arab economic warfare demonstrated the fictional nature of Orientalist representations and Western perceptions of the non – Western " Other " . 
