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The following excerpt is from a Lebanese TV report on a product called "Virgin Again," which claims to create an artificial hymen. The report aired on New TV on November 28, 2009.
Reporter: Fifteen dollars, five minutes – and you're a virgin again. An artificial hymen, made in China, is being sold as "Virgin Again".
Reporter enters a chemist and asks a woman at the counter:
Reporter: Do you sell artificial hymens?
Woman: Sorry?
Reporter: Artificial hymens?
Woman: No.
Reporter: Don't they sell it in pharmacies?
Cut to manager behind the counter
Manager: If I see there's a demand for it, I will sell it.
Voiceover: Renewed virginity – an elastic substance made of natural herbs, which produces a drop of blood, and any woman can easily place it at the opening of her vagina, and it restores her virginity in less than five minutes. The product was invented seven years ago in the US and Japan, and it was sold secretly for $100. Its arrival in the Arab world has caused controversy in social and religious circles, ranging from a ban on its use, to a fatwa calling to put the importers to death.
For some young women, "Virgin Again" is a revolution in a package, just like the contradictory reality of the society in which they live. What do today's women think of this new product?
Reporter approaches women on the street
Reporter: What do you think of artificial hymens?
Woman giggles and walks away. Footage cuts to another woman...
Reporter: What do you think of artificial hymens?
Woman: No... I've never used it.
Reporter: Would you use it?
Woman: What is it, again?
Footage cuts to another woman on the street
Woman: I don't understand.
Man walks past: Make sure you don't lie!
Footage cuts back to previous woman
Woman: Okay, thanks, merci – but no.
Cut to another woman on the street
Woman: Some people use it. I absolutely believe that girls should preserve their virginity. I'd like to say something, and I hope people will hear it. No matter how open-minded a young man is, even if he takes somebody who isn't a virgin – in our oriental society, I think that deep down, he will always feel jealous of those who get a woman who is still a virgin. Definitely. Even though it has become something normal now, I seriously think that girls should at least keep this thing, so they can give it as a present on their wedding night.
Voiceover: Do young men care whether the girl they marry is a virgin?
Man in the street 1: I won't marry someone who is not a virgin.
Man on the street 2: I'd prefer to marry a virgin. That's the way I am.
Man on the street 3: I wouldn't agree to such a thing.
Man on the street 4: It doesn't matter to me if she's a virgin or not.
Man on the street 5: Obviously, she won't be someone with no experience, but she must be a virgin.
Man on the street 3: According to my beliefs, I wouldn't marry someone who is a "woman." She needs to be a virgin.
Man on the street 1: If she's lying, you can't tell. It will be revealed with time.
Two men on the street: This is unacceptable.
Man on the street 2: He's not a real man if he can't tell.
Voiceover: Unfortunately, today it's a lot more complicated to know. It's farewell to the sacredness of virginity, and to a drop of real blood on the white sheets. The question to men is: Will it still be so important to have relations with a virgin, in light of the artificial hymen?
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