The like-a-virgin deception
By Ellen Goodman Syndicated columnist BOSTON — I remember when a subgroup of the abstinence-only movement first came up with an escape clause called secondary virginity. The idea was that just because you had sex once didn't mean you had to do it again. This prompted a cynical question from a young lawyer in my family: "Does that mean you can renew your virginity again and again? Or is it three strikes and you're out?" Well, now we are having a secondary argument over secondary virginity. This time the subject isn't spiritual revival but surgical re-virgin. The furor comes from Europe, where there's a trend among women — mostly immigrants and mostly Muslims — to have their hymens restored for the marriage market. This began with a recent case that has France in an uproar even by French standards. A Muslim groom who discovered on his wedding night that his wife was not what she claimed to be — a virgin — sued for and won an annulment. He claimed a breach of contract on the grounds that virginity was an "essential quality" of the woman he chose to marry.
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