Investigating Moroccans' Perceptions of Female Virginity

Different studies have been done in the Moroccan context regarding the issue of virginity and premarital sex; some of them go back to the 1980s and the 1990s. However, few of them were encouraged to examine the way Moroccans define virginity and virginity loss. Given the confines and the limitations of these studies, I attempt in this book to examine the way Moroccans define virginity, the sexual practices that lead one's loss of virginity, and therefore the extent to which meanings that have been historically assigned to an unbroken hymen are still valid. The changes that Morocco has been undergoing have surely had a variety of impact on the way Moroccans identify female virginity. In order for girls to keep their hymen intact as a manifestation of their virginity, some of them are more likely to resort to alternative sexual practices be it superficial, oral or anal sex, or medical surgeries to restore effectively their hymen. On the light of all of this, it is hypothesized that the notion of female virginity in Morocco has been redefined and no longer tight with the hymen being intact, owing to the excessive social and sexual transitions that Morocco has witnessed.