Like A Virgin

Monday, December 17th, 2007 2:11 pm by Neal

Maybe Madonna is actually a Muslim. Who knew?

Muslim Brides Undergoing Painful Vaginal Surgery to ‘Re-virginize’ for Wedding Nights:

On her wedding night, Aisha Salim will hand her blooded sheets to her in-laws as proof of her virginity, according to a story in The Daily Telegraph of Australia.

But there’s one problem. Being a modern English university graduate, she is far from the traditional untouched Muslim bride.

Like most woman her age, Salim has smoked, drank, had sex and even lived with one of her past boyfriends.

However, if the devout Muslim family of her soon-to-be husband – or even her own family – knew this, she could be murdered.

Aisha has 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.

“If my husband cannot prove to his family that I am a virgin, I would be hounded, ostracised and sent home in disgrace,” Salim told England’s Daily Mail.

“My father, who is a devout Muslim, would regard it as the ultimate shame. The entire family could be cast out from the friends and society they hold dear, and I honestly believe that one of my fanatically religious cousins or uncles might kill me in revenge, to purge them of my sins. Incredible as it may seem, honour killings are still accepted within our religion.

“Ever since my family arranged this marriage for me, I’ve been terrified that, on my wedding night, my secret would come out. It has only been since my surgery last week that I’ve actually been able to sleep properly. Now, I can look forward to my marriage.”

Salim is far from alone in seeking such drastic — and almost barbaric — surgery.

This article doesn’t answer the question: Now that Aisha has had the surgery, is her family “ok” with her past? In other words, does this surgery sufficiently “undo” her obvious lack of virginity? We would guess the answer is “yes” since she’s willing to talk to reporters and risk her family finding out all of this. (UPDATE: A literal reading of the article implies that she’s still at risk and is hoping to cover-up her past. Good luck.)

Islam presents quite a conundrum: Since Hymenoplasties are typically performed in Western countries, what’s a poor Muslim non-virgin to do? Have the surgery — a product of forbidden Western culture — or skip the surgery and risk being the victim of a good ol’ fashioned honor killing?

Either way, she’s gonna bleed.

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