Middle East Focus-Arabia Deserta: Kiss and Kill in Jordan: Gender, Honor, and Regional Politics

Arabia Deserta

Kiss and Kill in Jordan: Gender, Honor, and Regional Politics

Jordan is notorious among Arab countries for its "honor killings", and for relatively lax laws and lax enforcement in those cases. For some reason only women lose their honor: the men in Jordan are so honorable they would never think of losing their (talking about honor here). In Jordan, apparently it doesn’t take two to tango. One woman can tango solo. Sort of like what we read about many parts of Pakistan.

This fact would make a Martian, new to Earth, fresh off the boat in Jordan, think that women are the only ones who have have any honor left to give away.
In Jordan, the media report an increasing trend toward forcing prospective brides to undergo tests for virginity. Many grooms insist on a medical report insuring that the hymen is still ‘there”. This would presumably save the groom the trouble of murdering his bride on the wedding night or, more likely, next day. Sort of 'kiss-and-kill'.

A national medical center noted that many Jordanian girls who are killed for “honor” reasons are found after autopsy to have their hymens intact (they were virgins when killed, at least by that yardstick)..
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