ulterior motives by using his profession as an excuse to pretend an interest in a merely objective, medical examination. She adds that by describing this scene, she wanted to underline the abusive nature of female honor “namus” as a general concept.80 When Krause remarked that only a few writers have been dealing with this issue in such detail, she recalled her own difficulties while writing this part of her novel. She concluded that enduring the shame that already comes with even imagining and putting to paper violent acts like this might have made writers shy away from this undertaking altogether.
Another case of virginity testing is presented in Sindiwe Magona’s novel Mother to Mother. Here, the regular examination of the female protagonist Mandisa’s body is not carried out by a male relative, but by her own mother, who makes her daughter lie down on a white towel and controls whether she “remained ‘whole’ or ‘unspoilt’ as she said. […]. I was the one who felt dirty” ←58 | 59→(95). She is so obsessed with these proofs of virginity that she even threatens to ask the men of the family to examine Mandisa when she refuses to go through this monthly “routine” (98) again and again: “I’m calling your fathers to come and do it themselves. I will not be responsible for anything untoward happening to you” (98). While Mandisa experiences this procedure as “the beginning of many a trial, for me” (95), her mother perseveres in her role as protector of the family honor, thus taking over a traditionally patriarchal role. She even brings the village midwife to their home, who “looked at me the way Mama had done” (112). Paraphrased as acts of “inspect[ing] me” (98) or “see[ing] me” (99), these examinations are regular checks on Mandisa’s appropriate behavior. Their results are supposed to provide sound evidence “that I was still a whole girl, complete and untouched” (99).81
Scheinhardt describes the fictive fate of three Turkish girls in Drei Zypressen, depicting mostly stereotypical views through the eyes of her female narrators. This makes her approach rather simplistic despite the topic’s complexity. However, in the case of Zeynep Z., she presents to the reader a mother’s realistic preoccupation with her daughter’s virginity, which is here mentioned as her “being untouched”: “Ihr ging es in diesen Gesprächen aber hauptsächlich darum, im Auftrag meines Vaters herauszufinden, ob ich noch unberührt war oder nicht” (112). Moreover, it is pointed out that a method exists to repair the hymen and thus make it possible for “impure” girls to get married off despite their lost virginity – an operation that apparently took six minutes and cost 2500 Deutsche Mark at the time: “Es hatte sich unter den Türken herumgesprochen, daß ein Frauenarzt die jungen türkischen Mädchen, die nicht mehr Jungfrau waren, operierte, also ihre Jungfernhaut flickte, damit die Eltern des Mädchens sie als Jungfrau verkaufen konnten” (112). The use of the word “verkaufen,” which means “to sell,” speaks for itself in this context, stressing that women are often regarded as commodified objects.
Leila Aboulela in her novel Minaret briefly hints at a similar operation. The protagonist Najwa’s boyfriend Anwar critically observes that “Like every other Arab girl […] you’ve been brainwashed about the importance of virginity” (175). In the course of this discussion, we hear about “his stories of prospective Sudanese brides paying for operations to restore their virginity” (175). Just like the “disobedient” girls who suddenly disappear from their Anatolian villages ←59 | 60→and are never heard of again in Zülfü Livaneli’s Bliss, those in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret are confronted with a comparable fate: “They weren’t lost, these girls, they weren’t missing – they were killed by their brothers or fathers then thrown in the Nile” (175).
In Elif Shafak’s novel Honour, a part of which takes place in a Kurdish village, Jamila, the twin sister of the male protagonist’s mother Pembe, is described as “impure.” She lives alone in a Kurdish region and is called the “Virgin Midwife” (172). A flashback to the year 1961 highlights that Jamila had been kidnapped some time ago and nobody exactly knows what happened to her during this period of time: “A midwife examined her. She says Jamila has no hymen but some girls are born like this” (97). With the words “Your father says you may not be a virgin” (98), Adem confronts Jamila with this scandalous information: “Jamila had not defended herself or sworn her chastity, and her silence was so unsettling. What if she was not a virgin? How could he live with this doubt for the rest of his life? What would his brother Tariq say when he learned that he had found himself a tainted wife […]?” (99). Adem’s thoughts reflect that a woman’s virginity before marriage plays a considerable role with regard to the whole community into which she is married off. His decision to ask for the hand of a woman whose virginity is not a proven fact might have stained his family’s name, which had already suffered when his mother ran away with another man.
In her novel Bilqiss, which describes various violations of existing honor codes, Saphia Azzeddine’s protagonist of the same name states that in some countries it is already a provocation in itself to be born a female: “Dans beaucoup de pays naître femme était déjà une provocation en soi” (47). In Bliss, Zülfü Livaneli goes even further by making Meryem’s uncle, who in his role as a traditional patriarch does not undergo any character development (in contrast to his son Cemal) say that “[t];o be born a woman was punishment enough in itself. Women were devils, dirty and dangerous. Like their forerunner, Eve,82 all of them got men into trouble” (8). Robin Yassin-Kassab refers to “sexual morality” (221) in general, adding that “[i]t’s the tribal background that turns women’s bodies ←60 | 61→into suitcases of honour” (285) – a trope which hints at the opening and closing “mechanism” of the female body, the former leading to a loss of honor whereas the latter guarantees its remaining innocent. Sema Kaygusuz‘s observation in her novel Barbarın Kahkahası sums up the obsession with a woman’s virginity in honor cultures in a short sentence: “In order to preserve the manhood of men, Mary needs to be chaste.”83
1.1.2 Immoral behavior in public
Among the behavioral codes that need to be respected by women in honor cultures are also rules regarding their decent appearance in public. These indicators of a girl’s or woman’s sexual purity, include “maintaining virginity before marriage, modesty, decorum in dress, and sexual purity in social relations – particularly with men” (Cihangir 3). Vandello and Cohen also claim that “honor cultures often establish norms where female chastity, purity, and modesty are valued” (998). Mayeda and Vijaykumar speak of “honor codes that minimize overstepping of sexual boundaries,” and sum up the the findings of several social scientists by stating that “women may be expected to dress modestly, not interact with male strangers, refrain from initiating separation from a male partner, and/or not leave domestic spaces without being accompanied by a male family member, particularly during evenings” (354). Comparing gender-specific honor codes, Vandello and Cohen conclude that “whereas the code dictates precedence and toughness for males, norms for females stress modesty, shame, and the avoidance of behaviors that might threaten the good name of the family (e.g., adultery or sexual immodesty)” (998). Peter Glick at al. share similar findings, highlighting that “being a ‘good man’ or a ‘good woman’ by enacting gender-traditional traits and roles becomes equated with being a moral, religious individual” (547), but also make it clear that the majority of social codes that need to be respected are meant for women and reinforce patriarchal values including female subordination: “Women maintain honor through obedience to men, sexual modesty, and religious piety” (Glick et al. 543). The expression “modesty,” a recurring one in the context of both social sciences and literary works, refers to the decent, appropriate behavior of women in public spaces, especially when men are around.
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Ideally, women should not go out without male company, so that they can be immediately admonished in case they walk in a sexy way, laugh loudly on the street, or violate further honor-related codes in any other possible way. The focus here always lies on the “morally appropriate behavior of the female family members” (Caffaro et al. 297) since “the role of a woman is to maintain her man’s and family’s honour
