Book: The Virgin Cure

From The Star Phoenix:

The Virgin Cure is set in Manhattan in 1871, when 30,000 children lived in the streets of the city. It is the story of 12-year-old Moth, a poor girl but a survivor if there ever was one. Moth's mother sells her to a wealthy woman who abuses her, so Moth escapes to the Bowery, a place of beggars, thieves, prostitutes and freakshows. There, she is taken in by brothel-owner Miss Everett, who sells girls' virginity to the highest bidder. It's there that Moth befriends a woman doctor, Dr. Sadie, and learns about the virgin cure - the belief that having sex with a virgin girl will cure a man's syphilis.

UK: Virginity For Sale

From Yahoo7 News:

Four members of a child prostitution ring are facing jail in the UK after they attempted to sell the virginity of young girls to wealthy Arab businessmen for up to STG150,000 ($A247,000).

The gang were caught in an undercover Scotland Yard sting after offering their services in a hand-written letter to the owner of the Jumeirah Carlton Hotel in Knightsbridge, central London.

A police officer contacted the gang by telephone posing as a potential client and was told they could provide girls from Iran, England and Eastern Europe aged between 14 and 20 for sex.

"This case highlights the fact that trafficking is not just a crime that involves foreign nationals being brought in the UK. It is something that happens within the UK as well.

A Return To Virginity

From BBC News:

Young Arab women wait in an upmarket medical clinic for an operation that will not only change their lives, but quite possibly save it. Yet the operation is a matter of choice and not necessity. It costs about 2,000 euros (£1,700) and carries very little risk.

The clinic is not in Dubai or Cairo, but in Paris. And the surgery they are waiting for is to restore their virginity.

Whether in Asia or the Arab world, an unknown number of women face an agonising problem having broken a deep taboo. They've had sex outside marriage and if found out, risk being ostracised by their communities, or even murdered.

Now more and more of them are undergoing surgery to re-connect their hymens and hide the any sign of past sexual activity. They want to ensure that blood is spilled on their wedding night sheets.

The social pressure is so great that some women have even taken their own lives.

Egypt: Ban "fake" hymen

From Associated Press:

Conservative Egyptian lawmakers have called for a ban on imports of a Chinese-made kit meant to help women fake their virginity and one scholar has even called for the "exile" of anyone who imports or uses it.

The Artificial Virginity Hymen kit, distributed by the Chinese company Gigimo, costs about $30. It is intended to help newly married women fool their husbands into believing they are virgins — culturally important in a conservative Middle East where sex before marriage is considered by many to be illicit. The product leaks a blood-like substance when inserted and broken.

Gigimo advertises shipping to every Arab country. But the company did not answer e-mails and phone calls seeking comment on whether it had orders from Egypt or other parts of the Middle East.

The fracas started when a reporter from Radio Netherlands broadcast an Arabic translation of the Chinese advertisement of the product. That set off fears of conservative parliament members that Egyptian women might start ordering the kits.

Sheik Sayed Askar, a member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood who is on the parliamentary committee on religious affairs, said the kit will make it easier for Egyptian women to give in to temptation. He demanded the government take responsibility for fighting the product to uphold Egyptian and Arab values.