Virginity Control and Hymen (re)Construction: Gender Analysis from the Perspective of Young Women

Virginity is a social construct with no medical or scientific value. Although some people believe an intact hymen is proof of virginity, this belief has not been confirmed using forensic evidence. Despite these facts, in many places in the world women's sexuality is controlled via virginity testing and hymen (re)constructions. These practices are on the rise globally, including in Sweden. Voicing the viewpoints of racialised women are rare. Using a gender perspective, this study analysed how young women living in Sweden who experience patriarchal chastity norms construct and understand virginity and what conditions, actions, and consequences follow when virginity is highly valued. A total of 14 young women originating from countries in the Middle East, East Africa, and Sweden were interviewed. This study uses constructive grounded theory to explore concepts such as oppression, inequality, and injustice. The category Unequal sexual conditions for women compared with men describes why virginity is understood as a troublesome condition for women. The category The making and faking of a virgin presents various ways women's sexuality is controlled in cultural and medical contexts. The consequences of the intrusions of medicine and the roles physicians play are included in the category Surgical interventions in gendered bodies. The emergent core category, Intersecting dimensions of honor cultures, (un)medical power, and gender injustice sustain the norms of virginity, explains how the epistemologies of ignorance are connected to virginity and the hymen. Unscientific discourses about virginity testing and the hymen (re)construction must be challenged if we intend to stop these harmful practices.