Seriously folks, I thought I'd seen it all. But yesterday, while browsing at a pharmacy in Doha, I saw Virginity Cream. Yes, you read that right. Well, being my inquisitive self, I had to pick up the box and read the packaging. According to box, the cream contains "special ingredients formulated for a woman's most sensitive areas," which will "strengthen and tighten the vaginal muscles," leaving one feeling "cleansed and refreshed" as well as "feeling tighter."
Wow. Oddly enough, there was no mention of the hymen. A colleague suggested that this is an "Asian thing," which I take to mean that it's a product purchased mostly by Asian women. However, given all the skin bleaching products I've seen here (usually called "fairing cream"), it seems that even Arab women make use of whatever products they feel might enhance their beauty or femininity.
I swear there's an academic essay in here somewhere...now if I only had the time to write it!
Saturday, August 21, 2010
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6 comments:
This is hilarious! You should buy a box (or a few) and use them as white elephant gifts. It's a surefire party hit.
Cam: What's scary is that you're evidently thinking the same things as my husband, who suggested this as well!!
Actually, replacing a hymen is not uncommon in your neck of the woods . . .
intlxpatr: Really? Do you mean surgical replacement of the hymen? Or correction to repair a hymen? I'm really fascinated by this...Is this not the same as female genital mutilation? Or, is this something women voluntarily do?
Genital mutilation is taking the clitoris away. Hymen correction is replacing that little membrane with another little membrane so that virginity is . . . hmm. . .re-intact (?)
Because virginity is so important culturally (it also used to be in the USA), the operation is very common. Those wanting to insure discretion fly to Lebanon or Egypt to have it done. :-)
Patricia: you clarified my most important question, which was about choice. I wasn't sure if replacing the hymen was a procedure that women were voluntarily choosing to do or if this was something they were forced to do. Although, one could argue that they are, in a way, forced to do it because of the extreme cultural and religious emphasis placed on virginity.
I still can't believe they even have a surgery to do this????
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