The Virginity Industry -BBC

[chweetgurl]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8641099.stm

I know in India they spread white sheets on couple's 'first night' to check on bride's virginity call it double standards where men can get away with losing virginity but women its tough.
A friend of mine carried chicken's blood in a tiny bottle and splattered it without her husband's knowledge on the bed and luckily got away with it.But my question is why a different treatment for woman?

[Dev1975]

Probably that sexist view that if a man does it, he's "being a man" whereas if a woman does it then she's dirty and filthy.  Some people just have not moved with the times, sad to say.

[Jasmine]

I'm confused by this, a woman can be a virgin and not bleed her first time...

[saffron]

Yes....I suppose the hymen may not break ...    or maybe broken in other ways through injury...or examination for women with certain conditions...

its very common in many cultures for the 'honour of the family'...there are allsorts of things women will do...including cutting somewhere on the body to place blood on the sheet...in middle-eastern countries...well esp in kurdish and Taliban areas..they have to hang a sheet out on a line with the blood showing..and there is a public roar from some people to confirm that the marriage was to a virgin and therefore pure... but as Dev states..the men are seen as 'being men' if they have done it already...

[booktalker]

There are plenty of clinics where you can get hymen restoring operations - even if you're a virgin, you might not have an intact one and blood proves that the bride and her family's honour is also intact - symbolic, archaic, patriarchal, dangerous.

[Bal]

This is very ironic
I was reading an article in the asian woman mag last night about this.............

Its a difficult one to be honest - i can see why people do it, but shouldnt people be accepting of such things - we are in 2010.....................................

[chweetgurl]

Yes Bal thats how i feel too i dont know y in this day and age we need to put up with kind of stuff..
Most of my male friends in India think the same that thier wife needs to be a virgin whereas they are not!Even i pointed out many times thats double standards.