In many places, the evidence of a woman’s virginity is still required by the family of the groom. An example of this practice is found in a story reported in The Daily Telegraph of Australia:
On her wedding night, Aisha Salim will hand her blooded sheets to her in-laws as proof of her virginity.Read this sad story by clicking here.
But there's one problem: Like most woman her age, Aisha has smoked, drank, had sex and even lived with one of her past boyfriends.
However, if the family of her soon-to-be husband - or even her own family - knew this, she could be killed.
Aisha has therefore opted to have her virginity surgically restored in a delicate but painful surgery called hymenoplasties - where the hymen is re-created from the already torn tissue, or a new membrane is inserted.
This practice, as stated in this law, is practically unworkable, since the absence of blood after the first intercourse does not say anything about the virginity of the bride. The intent of the law was to preserve family honor since the woman’s behavior would bring shame to her father and her husband.
The law did not work then and it does not work now.
Claude Mariottini
Profesor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Marriage, Virginity
2 comments:
Note that this girl is in fact from England, not Australia.
In the Middle Eastern country where I lived and worked for a time, brides who were not virgins didn't go through expensive surgery, they just scratched themselves on their wedding night enough to draw a tell-tale mark of blood - at least according to rumour.
Peter,
Thank you for this information. I knew the girl was from England, even though I did not mention it in the post. I did not know you lived in the Middle East. I am sure you have a lot of stories to tell.
I always appreciate your insights.
Claude Mariottini
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