Talk Islam

razib

  • 05:57:49 pm on June 10, 2008 | # | |

    Operation Lets Muslim Women Reclaim Virginity :

    Like an increasing number of Muslim women in Europe, she had a hymenoplasty, a restoration of her hymen, the thin vaginal membrane that normally breaks during the first act of intercourse.

    “In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt,” said the student, perched on a hospital bed as she awaited surgery on Thursday. “Right now, virginity is more important to me than life.”

    As Europe’s Muslim population grows, many young Muslim women find themselves caught between the freedoms that European society affords and the deep-rooted traditions of their parents’ and grandparents’ generations.

    for me the creepiest part is the presentation of the blood as proof of virginity. what’s up with that? am i being narrow-minded?

     

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Comments

  • Tariq Nelson 3:30 am on June 11, 2008 | #

    for me the creepiest part is the presentation of the blood as proof of virginity. what’s up with that? am i being narrow-minded?

    When I first heard about this, I thought the guy was joking it sounded so absurd to me

  • aziz 6:10 am on June 11, 2008 | #

    it boils down to male insecurity, really - these men seem to feel a need to “conquer” the woman, and if she’s already been conquered, then he is “robbed” of his victory.

    so naturally the solution is for women to have surgery. gak. what a frakked up world.

  • Ali Eteraz 10:26 am on June 11, 2008 | #

    you are not being narrow minded at all. this is sick.

  • Muse 10:38 am on June 11, 2008 | #

    This is so perverse. Honestly muslims should stop talking about how Islam liberated women hundreds of years before the West and get their collective heads out from where the sun doesn’t shine. Maybe then their eyes will open up to what happens in their houses.

    Yes we know we can come up with cultural reasons for why this nonsense goes on, but I feel like we get complacent and comfortable after we put the “this is culture, not Islam” card on the table. Islam brought revolutionary societal reform (for the better) when it came, and this is what we have to offer the world now?? How do we pick ourselves up?

    Btw, I wonder what happens to rape victims who have to undergo the added trauma of this surgery. Wait I forgot, there’s no rape in Muslim communities.

    Another thing - I would also like the front page of NYTimes to talk about something positive when it comes to Muslim women. I am sick.and.tired. of this Muslim women = victim image.

  • razib 11:59 am on June 11, 2008 | #

    “it boils down to male insecurity, really - these men seem to feel a need to “conquer” the woman, and if she’s already been conquered, then he is “robbed” of his victory.”

    but that’s a not uncommon male attitude among non-muslims too. i had “conservative” male friends in high school who would date “sluts” for sex but assume they’d marry a virgin. a bigger problem in this case are familial/parental expectations. you present the bloody sheet to family so they can confirm the virginity of the bride. it’s not a totally novel system; european royal women would give birth in front of the whole court or even be deflowered when others were in the room so that there would be public confirmation of their virtue and the legitimacy of the heir.

    but that’s the past. right?

  • aziz 1:00 pm on June 11, 2008 | #

    from the perspective of the past, we are the future. And as Douglas Adams said, “the future is like a foreign country. They do things exactly the same, there.”

  • sophister 2:22 pm on June 11, 2008 | #

    I don’t see this as male insecurity. Usually it is the man’s mother who is to be shown the blood, no?

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