One of the most prominent themes in The Arabian Nights is Orientalism. According to Edward Said, orientalism is, according to one definition, the act of classifying us vs. them.
Oriental thought is that the West is civilized and the East is not. The argument is that the East does things “backwards” or has a “quaint” or “barbaric” culture. The Orient is described as exotic and is largely over-sexualized.
An important thing to remember about The Arabian Nights is that they are fictional stories. Yes, there are some sexual aspects to the stories, but they are not meant to represent Arab culture or true experiences.
That being said, when Westerners translated The Arabian Nights, they often had an agenda and purpose for doing so. They made stylistic and content changes based on the message they wanted to send to their audience, which was usually “look over here at these exotic, barbaric, strange people in the East.” These translations are tricky because many of them have an ulterior motive attached to them.
The World of the Arabian Nights 