RECONSTRUCTING HYMENS OR CONSTRUCTING SEXUAL INEQUALITY - SERVICE PROVISION TO ISLAMIC YOUNG-WOMEN COPING WITH THE DEMAND TO BE A VIRGIN

In Islamic culture, there is an imperative demand that women should be virgins on their wedding night. Service providers in The Netherlands are increasingly confronted by Islamic young women who find themselves in serious difficulties because they are no longer virgins, and are a bout to enter a forced or arranged marriage. These young women report a diversity of problems such as loneliness, social isolation, depressi on, despair, suicidal feelings, identity problems and serious conflict s with parents. In this article we focus attention on the circumstance s that can result in these types of difficulties, and also critically consider the kinds of help that young Islamic women are given. Attenti on is paid to the question of whether existing forms of service provis ion, especially surgical reconstruction of the hymen, take sexual and other inequalities into account.