Iranians question tradition on sex, virginity and marriage
While more traditional families still insist that a woman must be a virgin before marriage, some men are questioning the custom.
Most traditional and religious Iranians, particularly those who live in smaller provinces, believe that women must save their virginity for marriage. Regardless of how sexually experienced the groom may be, ideally, the bride must be untouched.
A large number of middle-class and most religious affluent families remain faithful to the necessity of virginity at the time of marriage, and strongly believe in it as a principle to this day. Respected norms in social groups in Iran, however, have changed quite a bit and are in the process of even further change.
Women who desire to be sexually active prior to getting married are often times faced with the dilemma of preserving their hymen or enjoying their sexuality, especially if they live in traditional circumstances. There seems to be no question about some Iranian (and most observant Muslim) men’s overwhelming desire to be “the first one.”
Some young single women who engage in pre-marital sex undergo hymen restoration surgery; a generally uncomplicated procedure usually done in an OB-GYN’s office, reconstructing the broken hymen. The operation should, in an ideal situation, be done in a hospital, but since this is an illegal procedure in Iran, it must be performed covertly. By the same token, this kind of surgery is costly and not affordable for many. Names and addresses of some doctors’ offices and private clinics where hymenoplasties are performed are available online, along with their approximate cost, and some people consult websites in their quest for a credible specialist to perform the surgical procedure on them.
