Culture in the Blender

Although by all standards I should be in bed, I’m procrastrinating my trolling the blogosphere. I found a very interesting interview with Aida Seif el-Dawla and Rabab el-Mahdi in the Guardian Unlimited. Both are corageous activists and feminists in Egypt, and in the article provide just the kind of explanation of context and feminist analysis I’ve ben looking for from any non-Western countries. Some of this article is suggestive of the obsession with virginity in the States, as well.

This article is the best explanation I’ve seen for obsession with female virginity anywhere. Perhaps globally, I’m the weird one. I wish I remembered where I read this, but I recently saw a study that concluded that female virginity was prized everywhere except the Nordic countries and the Netherlands, where no one really cared one way or the other. Until I moved back to the US as an adult, I just considered it rather matter-of-fact that no one marries as a virgin. In fact, it seemed (and still seems) rather unwise, a bit like getting married when you’re 15. Sure, do what you want, but… it’s not good for you. You will probably regret it one day, because you haven’t experienced enough of life to make such a big choice yet. I still have a lot of trouble understanding why you would even want to marry a virgin. It’s a little creepy to purposefully want to marry someone who’s incredibly naive, when marriage is supposed to be a partnership. It gives the whole thing overtones of domination and deception. Not exactly my idea of a good marriage.