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Published in:
2015 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
Introduction
Author : David Ghanim
Published in: The Virginity Trap in the Middle East
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan US
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Virginity is simply a demarcation line between sexual experience and naivety. However, virginity in Middle Eastern context has a different connotation. It is an index of honor, modesty, and a mode of social existence for a female living in these societies. An entire cultural and social system has been constructed around the concept of virginity and female chastity. The honor of men is principally related to the sexual conduct of women. Virginity is significant in the Middle East to the extent of forming a cult around the hymen and hymeneal blood. This virginity and hymen veneration condition how romance, sexuality, honor, social life, and gender relations and roles are performed and perceived in society.