Dictating Virginity | DW Documentary

Jul 24, 2021 • In many parts of the world, questions surrounding virginity have seemed to be on the verge of disappearing. But despite the sexual revolution, the idea of preserving virginity has seen a resurgence of late.

The film looks at growing movements promoting abstinence until marriage in the United States and Europe. As more and more women choose to join such movements, those in other places often have no choice. In Maghreb, for example, women must yield to tests to inspect their virginity. The pressure to be able to demonstrate virginity is so great that each year, a number of women resort to operations such as hymenoplasty, to reconstruct the hymen, which can be ruptured in any number of non-sexual ways. Despite all of this obsessive interest, the film shows that, physiologically, virginity does not exist. So what does it stand for, in our contemporary world?

Obsessed with Virginity – Female Sexuality among Western Muslims | DW Documentary

Available for purchase are kits for faking virginity. Young Muslim women are supposedly among the target market. But who is really pushing the demand?

What significance does the requirement for virginity have among young Muslims? Are their own expectations and outlooks compatible with their parents' traditions? Filmmaker Güner Yasemin Balci heard some extremely personal responses to these questions while making the documentary ‘Obsessed with Virginity’. She was born to Turkish immigrants and grew up in the multicultural Berlin district of Neukölln. From an early age she was eager to know why Muslims often deny their children the right to self-determination, and what price the younger generation have to pay to be free. She talks to female activists, women's rights campaigners and psychologists, who themselves have Muslim roots. All of them have had to fight to be able to live their own lives. It meant breaking away from families and friends due to the women's rejection of moral concepts that make sexuality a crime - and which are still promoted by preachers in many mosques today as they were 900 years ago. These are women who want to educate and change society, with an agenda that is both personal and political.

Egypt: On Virginity Testing
Feb 26 [2012] - The military judge in charge of the 'virginity tests' case postpones the trial against the accused military personnel once again. Samira Ibrahim who was one of seven women that suffered the humiliating checks after being detained in Tahrir on in March 2011, turned up to the military tribunal chanting against military rule. Rasha Abdel Rahman, another one of the women who suffered virginity checks during detention, testified in the case. It is expected that when the trial resumes on March 11th a final verdict will be given.

Video by Simon Hanna for Ahram Online

Saudis Fear There Will Be ‘No More Virgins’ and People Will Turn Gay If Female Drive Ban Is Lifted

MAIL ONLINE: Repealing a ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia would result in ‘no more virgins’, the country’s religious council has warned.

A ‘scientific’ report claims relaxing the ban would also see more Saudis - both men and women - turn to homosexuality and pornography.

The startling conclusions were drawn by Muslim scholars at the Majlis al-Ifta’ al-A’ala, Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, working in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the King Fahd University.

Their report assessed the possible impact of repealing the ban in Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world where women are not allowed behind the wheel.

It was delivered to all 150 members of the Shura Council, the country’s legislative body.

The report warns that allowing women to drive would ‘provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce’. Read on and comment » | Mail Foreign Service | Thursday, December 01, 2011

Poor Saudi Arabia! Poor benighted Saudi Arabia! The Saudis are simply incapable of lifting themselves out of the dark ages, aren’t they? I wonder why? – © Mark

Egyptian Army Denies 'Virginity Tests'
Egyptian military official denies comments saying the military had conducted forced "virginity tests" on female protesters in March

Egyptian Politicians Call for Gigimo Artificial Virginity Hymen Kit to Be Banned
THE TELEGRAPH: Egyptian politicians have demanded that an ‘Artificial Virginity Hymen’ kit be banned in the country, calling it a “mark of shame”.

The Gigimo Artificial Virginity Hymen kit: controversial in Egypt Photo: The Telegraph
Artificial Virginity Hymen is distributed by a Chinese company called Gigimo and sells for about £19. It consists of a pouch which is inserted inside a woman’s vagina before sex and leaks a blood-like substance when broken during intercourse.

Its website says, in broken English: “No more worry about losing your virginity. With this product, you can have your first night back anytime... Add in a few moans and groans, you will pass through undetectable.”

Sheik Sayed Askar, a member of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood political party, said: "It will be a mark of shame on the ruling party if it allowed this product to enter the market."

"This product encourages illicit sexual relations. Islamic culture forbids these relations except within the confines of marriage.

Abdel Moati Bayoumi, a prominent Islamic scholar, agreed. He said: "I think this should absolutely not be allowed to be exported because it brings more harm than benefits. Whoever does it (imports it) should be punished." However, the product has met with some support. … >>> Tom Chivers | Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Related:
Pakistani family shot dead in 'honour killing' after wedding >>> | Monday, June 29, 2009

Study alleges 'honour killings' conspiracy >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones | Sunday, February 03, 2008

French Judge Annuls Muslim Marriage over Bride’s False Virginity Claim
TIMESONLINE: The annulment of a young Muslim couple’s marriage because the bride was not a virgin has caused anger in France, prompting President Sarkozy’s party to call for a change in the law.

The decision by a court in Lille was condemned by the Government, media, feminists and civil rights organisations after it was reported in a legal journal on Thursday. Patrick Devedjian, leader of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement, said it was unacceptable that the law could be used for religious reasons to repudiate a bride. It must be modified “to put an end to this extremely disturbing situation”, he said.

The case, which had previously gone unreported, involved an engineer in his 30s, named as Mr X, who married Ms Y, a student nurse in her 20s, in 2006. The wedding night party was still under way at the family’s home in Roubaix when the groom came down from the bedroom complaining that his bride was not a virgin. He could not display the blood-stained sheet that is traditionally exhibited as proof of the bride’s “purity”.

Mr X went to court the following morning and was granted a annulment on the grounds that his bride had deceived him on “one of the essential elements” of the marriage. In disgrace with both families, she acknowledged that she had led her groom to believe that she was a virgin when she had already had sexual intercourse. She did not oppose the annulment.

Critics ran out of superlatives to condemn what they depicted as a dangerous aberration. Valérie Létard, Minister for Women’s Rights, said that she was “shocked to see that today in France the civil law can be used to diminish the status of women”. Outrage as French Judge Annuls Muslim Marriage over Bride's Virginity Lie >>> By Charles Bremner in Paris | May 31, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)