By Dr. Pamela
Chrabieh and Marianne Badine
In many
societies, family honor related to virginity became an outdated issue. However,
in most Western Asian and North African cultures for example, horrific
realities prevail. “Honor murders” occur in cities and villages, in poor
neighborhoods and upper social classes. These murders are based on the belief that a woman is the
property of her family – in patriarchal societies, men are considered to be
the leaders of the family and women are to be obedient. Should the woman’s virtue come
into question, for whatever reason, or if she refuses to obey her father,
husband or brother, her family’s “honor” is thought to be disgraced and the
woman must be killed by a male relative to restore the family’s good name in
the community. Often, women
are killed because of mere suspicion that they have engaged in illicit sexual
activity, or in cases of
love affairs, rape and sexual abuse, even by a family member.
A woman’s virtue
or purity is often related to her physical virginity. This has traditionally
been tested by the presence of an intact hymen, which was verified by either a
physical examination (usually by a physician, who would provide a certificate
of virginity) or by a "proof of blood," which refers to vaginal
bleeding that results from the tearing of the hymen. The physical examination would
normally be undertaken before the marriage ceremony, while the "proof by
blood" involves an inspection for signs of bleeding as part of the consummation of marriage, after the ceremony.
In some countries
like Morocco, the value of virgins manifests through the bride wealth. Virgins traditionally
command a higher bride wealth
value than their divorced or widowed counterparts. The bride wealth locks the
productive and reproductive services of the woman to her husband and his
agnates. The higher bride wealth of virgins not only commends the effort of the
bride's family but also provides the woman with more means to secure her role
as a wife and later as a mother. Thus, a marriage of convenience prolongs the
bride's virginal status and enables her to transfer this status to the next
marriage. Any breach upon this status endangers the transference. A
verification of a nonsexual breach may ensure the woman's reproductive value
and her family's honor.
The unmarried females of the family also run
the risk of becoming undesirable as prospective brides. If one girl in the
family is not a virgin that stigma transfers to her sisters and close female
cousins. Although virginity vicariously affects female marriageability, it
directly affects family honor. Virginity has a direct link to the honor system.
For a group wanting to exchange its women, the wife-givers, in forming
alliances, the purity of a woman represents the care, the value, and the
trustworthiness of the group from which she originates. It may also ensure that
the offspring from the untainted woman clearly belong to the receiving group,
the wife-takers. The solidifying of alliances in an environment in which the
government cannot be trusted is imperative for survival.
Even in seemingly liberated countries such as the Lebanese, although
female attractiveness may be emphasized as being important in terms of pleasing
a man, men are accorded more sexual freedom than women, which results in a
double standard. The emphasis on protecting women’s virginity in order to
ensure their desirability as marriage partners (women’s main social role), and
the emphasis on preserving family honor, contribute to this value.
Virginity, as indicated in its need for
verification and certification, is a product of a social act. When linked to
honor and marriage, the virginity of a woman no longer belongs solely to her.
The protection of her body as a commodity becomes the responsibility of the
group, particularly the head of the family and other male members assigned to
protect her. Her virginity is a crucial unifying element in maintaining the
cohesiveness of group. Since the premature loss of virginity affects the entire
group's reputation, a responsible woman guards her chastity or hides any
evidence of its damage, using Hymenoplasty procedure and other non surgical
artificial hymen products – refer to the following paper for further
information: “Artificial Virginity Products: A subversive Reading” [1]
-, or simply ancient practices such as spilling vials of animal blood on sheets
and panties to replace the virginal stains.
What about legal sanctions of honor crimes? In
some countries such as Jordan, Morocco and Syria,
although “honor crimes” are legally sanctioned, defense of the family honor is
considered a mitigating factor. Article
340 of the Penal Code of Jordan, for example, provides for an exemption from
penalty if a man kills his wife or female relative after finding her
“committing adultery with another man.” Similarly, Article 548 of the
Penal Code of Syria provides an exemption from penalty if a man kills or
injures his wife after finding her committing adultery or other “illegitimate
sexual acts with another man”. The
law also provides for a reduction in penalty for a man who kills or injures his
female relative after catching her in a “suspicious state with
another.”
In conclusion,
even if the Arab ‘Spring’ seemed to herald at first a new era of emancipation
for women in Western Asia and North Africa, we fear a rollback of what rights
women had before, especially with the rise of fundamentalist movements, new
forms of dictatorships and slow reform processes of family status laws. The
issue of family honor is one of many crucial ones to be tackled in order to
improve the conditions of women. New laws do
not change social attitudes instantaneously; indeed, in some cases they make
the conservative elements more combative, but in the long run they help combat injustices and create
more opportunities for women.
