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I think that's BS though.

When their culture denies basic human rights to particular segments of the population I feel it is our obligation to stop it. Be it the genocide, slavery, or torture of a race, or religious population, or the government-sanctioned human rights violantion of any group of people for any reason.

I agree, virginity is an outdated concept and it's definately relative. What counts as sex? Also, Joselle, she can still be a virign because all hymens are unique. Some women don't have one, some women break theirs in childhood, and some women have hymens that never break, but are very stretchy.

I'm definitely bringing this up in my Major Issues class. We had discussed the Middle East in the first term (although I guess you can say I "bombed" that unit) and the teacher brought up "honor killings," so this issue would be sort of relevant, especially since we're going to be discussing current events along with contemporary American history for the rest of the year.

I wonder if the father only thought she wasn't a virgin because her hymen wasn't intact. A lot of times, of a woman gets married and her new husband discovers that her hymen has already been broken, he might assume that she had sex before she was married. Although in this case, I shudder to think of how the father would have known if his daughter's hymen had been broken, if that had even been the case.

I agree, there's so much gray area regarding virgnity and what counts as sex. Also, I am a little old fashioned because I do value my virginity in the sense that I want to give it to the right person and that I'm glad I haven't given it to any of my ex boyfriends. On the other hand, I know that there's more to a woman than her virginity and that such a factor shouldn't determine a woman's value.

I guess the value of a woman's virginity can really only be determined by the woman herself. Not her parents, not her church, not society, not her boyfriend or husband, not her friends, no one else can determine the value of a woman's virginity or force a certain value on her. Morals and values are pretty much always subjective. Then again, I know this belief isn't new to this guild.

Men having pre-marital sex is probably just frowned upon by society, but not nearly as much as women doing the same thing. I don't think there's a country where that sort of sexual double standard does not exist. Even in America, where men and women are supposedly "equal," society still encourages men to have lots and lots of casual sex with lots of women (but no fatties, of course, and anything below a D cup is considered "lame" by most guys and their "homies") yet isn't at all hesitant to label women as sluts and whores when they have sex even once in a committed relationship.