Hymenotomy: A New Rite of Passage

Naomi Wolf author of The Beauty Myth argues that social constructions of beauty are political in nature as a way of maintaining the primacy of patriarchy. Wolf claims that in the West, public interest in the maintanance of women's virginity and chastity has been replaced by a public obsession with a very specific and often unrealistic physical shape and form. Today, a different discourse about virginity is beginning to crop up in Europe and the US. This discussion is not the one promoted by the right wing, instead it is one about the intersections of faith, nation, culture, and identity. Click here to read more.