Virginity Cult

Resilient cultural taboos mark reaching the age of puberty as the beginning of a process of strict regimentation and signal the start of a life of anguish for a female in Middle Eastern societies. Cultural taboos single out and overburden girls with societal fixation with female chastity. This obsession is reinforced by a strict regime of control and restrictions regarding the conduct and mobility of females. This control conditions the life of a female to a negative and constrained social existence. All the resources of the family, whose honor is at stake, are alerted and mobilized to guard the virginity of the female. Every male relative and every senior woman is concerned and involved in protecting her reputation. Paradoxically, the female herself is an active participant in this order through self-control, self-policing, and the women-dominated culture of gossip.