Why is this article's link illustrated with an image of the Virgin Mary. It is an article about a Muslim practice of restoring the appearance of virginity (the hymen). Since Mary gave birth, it is unlikely she still had a hymen (unless it was miraculously kept intact.)

A cynic might conclude that you were try to make an article critical of a Muslim practice more palatable by making it look like it is critical of Catholicism.

Maybe it's because the myth of virgin birth is tied up with the whole virgin fetish and suppression of female sexuality common to all the patriarchal religions of desert nomad society?

As if coming from a woman who HAS had sex would mar the "perfection" of a "God-Man".

If a women has the procedure be considered a "risen women"?

The significance of Mary's virginity is that she was pregnant, not that it made her more highly valued. You see, generally speaking the two things (virginity and pregnancy) are incompatible. Go ask your parents, they'll explain it to you.

Right, she's only special because she was pregnant AND a virgin. If she had sex, there would be no miracle to take place. Likewise, these families supposedly don't really care about her sexual history, they just want to know that her virginity is intact.

Sounds like a couple of crazy virgin fetishes to me.

If you see the difference it's because you don't want to. The fact remains in spite of your weak attempts at drawing equivalencies that this is an article about a practice of some Muslims illustrated with Catholic imagery.

1) If Mary had had sex, say, a few months before, but not around when she got pregnant, she would not be a virgin BUT the pregnancy would still be miraculous (Go ask YOUR parents. They'll explain it to you. (Ass.))

2) Why is the virgin pregnancy itself necessary? Why does the birth of Jesus have to be "miraclously" out of a woman who not only didn't have sex to make THIS baby, but didn't have sex AT ALL?

Why, because sexually active women are dirty and imperfect even worse than regular people are, of course. A perfect man-god couldn't come from a just ANY imperfect human woman - that imperfect human has to at least be a virgin, otherwise... what? Her dirty whore-ness would rub off on the Jesus on his way out? No one would believe her that she didn't make this baby the old-fashioned way - but they would if she said she was totally a virgin, she swears?

Mmmm, nope, in my opinion the whole thing is false, God is not Jesus's actual daddy, he didn't come back to life, etc etc. And the whole virgin birth thing is just another symptom of the virgin fetish of a patriarchal desert nomad society.

Of course, you're entitled to your opinions. I was just explaining why Mary's pic is sort of relevant (in a stock-photo kind of way) to a story about the modern incarnation of that obsession.

Perhaps you could explain, then, the necessity for the title, "Ever-Virgin"?

First of all let me apologize for the "ask your parents" remark. It was snooty and rude. It was in response to what I see as an ignorant and immature attack on my faith and therefore me, but that doesn't excuse it, so I'm sorry.

If you are going to attack someone's religion, might I suggest that you attack what they actually believe rather than an atheistic pop-psychology caricature of those beliefs. With Catholicism it's easy to find out what those beliefs are. They are quite comprehensively written out in the Catechism which is available online here or searchably here. You won't find any reference to the hymen or anything about "dirty whore-ness" rubbing off on anyone. You will find this, however:

506 Mary is a virgin because her virginity is the sign of her faith "unadulterated by any doubt", and of her undivided gift of herself to God's will. It is her faith that enables her to become the mother of the Savior: "Mary is more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ."

The premium is on her fidelity to the Lord, which all of us, men and women are called to emulate, not on the intactness of the hymen.

And why is virginity a sign of fidelity to the Lord, and non-virginity an offense to "Him"? Why would Mary being a sexually active woman - as opposed to an ordinary sinful person like we ALL, including Mary, supposedly are - be such an affront to God that it would show "infidelity" to "Him" whereas having a little bit of pride or sloth or what have you and needing grace to have forgiveness for THAT wouldn't?

Because God hates sex, of course - especially in women - unless it's tightly controlled by the patriarchal system.

You're always going to have some explanation for it, but believe me - my objection to Abrahamic religions' treatment of sex and women is based on far more than pop psychology. Of course your religion doesn't admit in so many words that if Jesus had come out of the birth canal of a sexually active woman, he couldn't be perfect because it would rub off on him. You've sublimated that belief - and all its background of menstrual and post-coital "ritual uncleanliness" and superstition about touching - into lofty ideas about fidelity to God that still don't make any sense without a virginity fetish, or more specifically the need to tightly control women and sex to allow for the smooth functioning of this particular social structure where paternity is EVERYTHING.

As an aside, it really strikes me how supremely un-American Judeo-Christianity is, with its deterministic obsession with bloodlines and genealogy, tribal identity, paternity, birth order, favorite children, chosen successors, and punishments and blessings meted out not just to the individuals that earned them, but to their descendants. It assumes the validity of kingships and birthrights and inherited merit and inherited shame and all that nonsense that we, as a nation of individualists, reject in our ideals.

Oh sure, salvation is a equal-access thing now. It doesn't matter who your daddy was anymore. But, to use the most prominent example, Jesus couldn't have been THE Jesus, the fulfillment of millenia of prophecy, without descending from David - both legally AND physically - and no one questions it.

kaiso:

And why is virginity a sign of fidelity to the Lord, and non-virginity an offense to "Him"? Why would Mary being a sexually active woman - as opposed to an ordinary sinful person like we ALL, including Mary, supposedly are - be such an affront to God that it would show "infidelity" to "Him" whereas having a little bit of pride or sloth or what have you and needing grace to have forgiveness for THAT wouldn't?

For the same reason that my not sleeping around shows fidelity to my wife (this would be true even if she were incapable of sexual relations). Again you criticize base solely on your ignorance. Catholic and Orthodox (the religions that claim Mary's perpetual virginity) hold that Mary was free from all sin, not just sexual sins.

You made a promise to your wife not to sleep with anyone else. Everyone knows why that pleases her, and what purpose it serves. Your wife is not God. You are being faithful to your wife, not God.

Mary was being faithful to God... so Mary... made a promise to God... not to sleep with anyone ever, even her husband... why? when? Why does this please God? What about poor Joseph?

You think that any sex - God, even marital sex which isn't a sin even according to your own religion - would displease God somehow and make Mary dirty and not perfect anymore. Oh yeah, you don't have a virginity fetish at all, sure.

Since you brought it up, did Mary magically not inherit sin like all the rest of us humans did? If God could let her do that, why not let ALL of us? Ohhh, because it's not in the big complicated plan of punishing us for something we didn't do by making us inherently sinful and then saving us from that sin, but not all of us, and only if we believe a really bizarre story, and only after a bloody horrible sacrifice that God needs in order to forgive us. You know, that complicated plan that's totally necessary for... for... um... well, I'm sure it's necessary for some reason!

Anyway, the point is, the virginity fetish of Abrahamic religions, which is totally clear to anyone who isn't a participant, is why it made sense to have a picture of Mary, the quintessential Holy Sexually Inexperienced Woman, up when talking about the "restoration" of virginity to fool your way past a ridiculous antiquated misogynistic requirement.