Virginity fraud is held to occur when someone lies about their virginity

Virginity

Virginity refers to the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions which place special value and significance on this state, especially in the case of unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor and worth...

 in order to obtain something of value. Like "paternity fraud

Paternity fraud

Paternity fraud refers to a paternal discrepancy or a non-paternity event, in which a mother names a man to be the biological father of a child, particularly for self-interest, when she knows or suspects that he is not the biological father. The term entered into common use in the late 1990s. It...

," the concept is controversial, especially in view of fundamental societal disagreement over the definition and importance of virginity and gender role

Gender role

Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...

s (including the sexual double standard

Double standard

A double standard is the unjust application of different sets of principles for similar situations. The concept implies that a single set of principles encompassing all situations is the desirable ideal. The term has been used in print since at least 1895...

).

The archetypal case is of a woman who falsely claims to be a virgin for the sake of marriage to a man whom she suspects of insisting on, or at least valuing, virginity in his bride. (Other situations — such as two lovers who claimed to lose their virginity together on the internet as a publicity stunt

Publicity stunt

A publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized or set up by amateurs...

 — may technically qualify, but are rarely discussed in the same context.)

Operating concept of virginity

Female virginity may either be defined solely according to the presence or absence of a hymen

Hymen

The hymen is a membrane that surrounds or partially covers the external vaginal opening. It forms part of the vulva, or external genitalia. The size of the hymenal opening increases with age. Although an often practiced method, it is not possible to confirm with certainty that a girl or woman is a...

, or else according to more ambiguous, philosophical criteria.

In many societies, for a woman to date

Dating (activity)

Dating is a form of courtship consisting of social activities done by two persons with the aim of each assessing the other's suitability as a partner in an intimate relationship or as a spouse...

 or have boyfriend

Boyfriend

A boyfriend is a person's regular male companion in a romantic or sexual relationship, although normally not in long-term committed relationships, where other titles A boyfriend is a person's regular male companion in a romantic or sexual relationship, although normally not in long-term committed...

s – even if refraining from full sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...

 – would already be viewed as a violation of traditional values. (See technical virginity; honor killing

Honor killing

An honor killing or honour killing is the homicide of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family or community...

.) On the other hand, lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 sexual activity would not normally be an object of concern. Meanwhile, a rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

 victim would be viewed as having lost her virginity by force.

An ancient wedding ritual involves relatives of the bride and/or groom waiting to receive the bloody sheet on which the bride was "deflowered", as "proof" of her former virginity (which would often be specified in the marriage contract). Techniques to simulate the bleeding and/or physical sensation of rupture are equally ancient.

Methods of detection

Several methods of "virginity fraud detection" are available, some commercially.

1. Inspection to determine whether hymen restoration surgery has been performed, and/or her vagina's general state of elasticity. In many societies, such inspections have traditionally been conducted by older female relatives of the prospective groom, but are increasingly performed by doctors, who may issue certificates of virginity for the benefit of the groom's family. Also, digital inspection may fail to detect surgical

Microsurgery

Microsurgery is a general term for surgery requiring an operating microscope. The most obvious developments have been procedures developed to allow anastomosis of successively smaller blood vessels and nerves which have allowed transfer of tissue from one part of the body to another and...

 sutures which are visible only by means of specialized medical instruments.

2. Background check

Background check

A background check or background investigation is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records and financial records of an individual....

s by a private detective aimed at uncovering a woman's romantic and/or medical history. Ironically, a number of attempts at virginity fraud are exposed by a woman's contact with medical clinics specializing in hymen restoration procedures.

Public response

In the West, awareness of hymen replacement surgery has led to criticisms of the procedure, on the grounds that it is medically unnecessary and contributes to pernicious social practices; alongside recognition that women's reasons for undergoing it are not frivolous (as might be claimed of other forms of elective plastic surgery). Little, if any, concern has been expressed for the intended "victims" of virginity fraud. Muslim responses have questioned the motives of women undergoing the procedure, as well as of prospective grooms whose attitudes have made the procedure so prevalent.

In 2006, a French Muslim man in Lille sought an annulment

Annulment

Annulment is a legal procedure for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almost as if it had never taken place...

 on the grounds that his bride (also Muslim) turned out not to be a virgin. She denied having misled him, but did not contest the appeal, which was duly granted. In 2009, amidst a wave of media attention, French justice minister Rachida Dati

Rachida Dati

Rachida Dati is a French politician and Member of the European Parliament, representing Île-de-France. Before her election, she held the cabinet post of Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice. She was a spokesperson for Nicolas Sarkozy during the French presidential election of 2007...

 ordered the government to appeal this decision (on the grounds that an important element of French public policy was at issue). Ronald Sokol

Ronald Sokol

Ronald P. Sokol , lawyer and writer, is a member of the bar in the United States and France. He and his wife live in Aix-en-Provence, France...

, in an editorial for the Christian Science Monitor, writes that

The question was whether the woman's virginity was an essential element of the marriage contract. If it was, then the contract could be annulled. If it was not, then the couple was validly married.

The appeals court reversed the judgment. Sokol continues:

The government argued that the wife's virginity was not an essential condition because her unchaste past has no effect on married life. The judges agreed. Even if she had lied, they said, it did not matter, as a woman's lies about her past love affairs are not matters essential to her married life. In short, a woman's past is her own.

It became known as the "Virginity Lie" case.

External links

• http://www.slate.com/id/2193353
• http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2009/0303/p09s01-coop.html
• http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/a/3334