Source: Unpublished work.
current affairs
In the New York Times article “In Europe, debate over Islam and virginity,” Elaine Sciolino and Souad Mekhennet relate how some women in Muslim countries seek hymen reconstruction surgery so that they will appear to be virgins on their wedding night. In the Slate article “Sex, lies, and virginity restoration — The case for doctor-assisted chastity fraud,“ William Saletan argues that this practice is justified considering the cultural attitudes that these women are facing.
links
questions
1. Is it wrong to deceive one’s fiancé or the family of one’s fiancé about one’s virginity by having one’s wedding night coincide with menstruation, by spilling blood, or by having a hymenoplasty?
2. Are there cases in which deception might be morally permissible when one is fighting an oppressive cultural practice?
3. The New York Times article “In Europe, debate over Islam and virginity” states that US doctors perform hymenoplasty on women who want to present themselves as virgins on Valentine’s day to their husbands. There is no deception involved in such cases. What, if anything, is objectionable in this case?
4. Can two wrongs make a right? Can two wrongs be better than one wrong, as William Saletan concludes in “Sex, lies, and virginity restoration — The case for doctor-assisted chastity fraud”? How does it apply to the case at hand? Is the author correct?
5. Is it morally permissible for doctors to perform hymenoplasties? Should Western states try to block doctors from performing hymenoplasties by legal means?