Analysis Of We Are Arabs: The Embodiment Of Virginity

What are Arab Americans? An individual can be classified as “Arab” if the person speaks Arabic, practices Islam, and identifies with the traditions of Arabic-speaking peoples. (Aguirre and Turner 276)These individuals are usually subject to negative and differential treatment by others. It is essential to identify the differential treatment of Arab Americans by others in society. The mistreatment of Arabs in the United States can be contributed to many factors; however, there have been certain events that have occurred in the United States, which have increased and enraged these strong emotional feelings in many Americans. Discrimination and stereotypes of a culture or group mainly develops from a lack of understanding. We can become a

Arab Americans are defined primarily of their religious identity and they reside in all 50 states. The first generation of immigrants from the Middle East dates back to late 1800s. The majority of immigrants’ population came from Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. Religion plays an important role in the Arab society and most of their way of life is not necessary because of their religion. Like many other immigrants, the reason these immigrants migrated to the United States was to escape the religious persecution, an opportunity to build a better life. Majority of how Arabs interact and the way their culture is has to do with the Koran and it is one of the foundations of Islamic law. In the Arab American culture, family is an important aspect and everyone plays their respective role. Fathers are the head of the households and are expected to provide for his wife and children. The women has restrictive education and they help support the family by caring for the house. Kids take on a role are taught by their parents depending on their gender. Boys are most likely to follow the footsteps of the father to prepare to care for his own family one day. The girls learn the basics of running a household. It is common for the children to live with their parents until they marry or live with them to care for them as they age and can no longer care for themselves. The Arab culture also value respecting the elders and they are often the decision makers in the family. The family

Across the globe, women of all walks of life are constantly oppressed by their male counterparts, shamed for actions frowned upon simply because of the double standards they are assigned since birth. In many cultures, women are viewed below men, and as a result they are forced to cater to all of the unfair expectations that men demand from them. One of the most popular and universal expectations is the belief that a woman must retain her virginity until marriage. In Half The Sky, women who disobeyed these unwritten laws of society faced the most extreme and harsh consequences. In one instance, a girl named Du’a Aswad went out late with a boy, and didn’t return until the morning. It was immediately assumed that she had slept with him, despite

Purity balls and chastity pledges tend to, whether it is explicitly acknowledged or not, normalize oppression of women’s bodies and endorse rigid gender roles. Breanne Fahs’ explains this phenomenon in her article, Daddy’s Little Girls: On the Perils of Chastity Clubs, Purity Balls, and Ritualized Abstinence. Fahs states that “The culture of chastity makes for highly gendered social spaces that normalize the control of women’s bodies and sexuality through family, school, religion, and media messages” (Fahs, 2010). These social spaces focus heavily on women’s sexuality and give young women “tools” for how to guard their virginity for their husband. Since chastity clubs and purity balls mainly focus on young women’s virginities rather than young men’s virginities a double standard is created. “Cultures try to impose order and meaning on a chaotic, meaningless world through classifying some things as ‘dirty,’ ‘polluted,’ ‘dangerous,’ or ‘taboo’ while other things are labeled as ‘clean,’ ‘pure,’ and ‘safe’” (Fischer). They do this to scare people from deviating to what they see as the wrong

Many advocates for abstinence-only education believe that its message is strongly intertwined with traditional values and religious faith; both of which they claim to have measurable influence in preventing teens from having sex (Collins, Alagira, and Summers 12-13). Christian conservative women believe that comprehensive sex education would encourage sexual activity and lesbianism, as well as undercut marriage and create social decay (Fields 24).

It is important to address the stereotypes of Middle Easterners that may have been learned from the culture in the United States (U.S.). There is a difference between Arab Americans and those that were born and remain in the Middle East. However, it the stereotypes of the Arab American is addressed, it will make the transition to understanding

Virginity, the subject of never having sexual intercourse based on ideas of tradition, gender, and sexual politics. Many people especially women tend to treasure their virginity and are only willing to lose their virginity to the “right” person. Traditional values of virginity all tie in with marriage. In earlier times and still in today’s society, women will stay a virgin until they were married. In many cultures “Virginity” is often viewed from the perspective that being a virgin is being pure. Delaying sexual initiation until marriage is the norm in countries such as Ethiopia (BMC Public Health, 2008). Historically, woman’s virginity is protected by a father and then “given” to a husband. A woman’s sexuality was believed to belong to the men in her life and to her God (Vagianos, 2013), but in today’s society this idea is not viewed as strongly. Fathers normally tend to be more overprotective of their daughters than they are towards their sons. It traditional gender roles women are seen as the ones that are meant to only give birth to children and care for them. If an unmarried women was to get pregnant at a young age, she would be seen as a disgrace to her family. It would ruin the reputation of her and her family. Some women believe that having

As virginity among young women has been perceived as being more valued than virginity among young men, the importance given to it is something that has been constructed

Society has plugged information into young people’s mind for generations. This programmed, presumptive information has made youthful people, especially teenagers, and young adults think and act like robots. Buried deep in many teenagers thoughts ensued by their parents and society are the words, “No sex before marriage!”. Different people, have countless different reasons that they believe one should not have sex before marriage. Society, in lots of different places look poorly on those who engage sexually before being married. I’ve witnessed it happen more then once locally in my area, and its always ends with such a negative outcome. Even in schools kids are taught that sex is bad thing, and told not to engage in any sort of sexual activity. Rather then being taught about the importance of safe sex society is programing kids to just not have sex at all, especially in America. “Americans love to tout the value of waiting until marriage to have sex. We teach abstinence-only education in schools across the country, and even comprehensive sex-ed programs often point out that "abstinence is best."” (Jill Filipovic). People get married, most of the time, because the love each other but marriage is only a document. And when you love someone, you don’t need a contract to prove it. And you shouldn’t need a stamp of approval saying when and when you’re not allowed to be intimate with someone you love. Having sex before marriage should not be looked so poorly upon this day in age.

Epistemologically, the term patriarchal society is a social form in which the father, or the eldest male, controls the primary authority within the family. Within such social system, the male figure has power over the children and women, and acquires control over the property and residence of the family. Moreover, males are given the privilege to dominate social and financial concerns within the family (Moghadam 1992 and Kandiyoti 1988). The concept of patriarchy is a mundane and permeated concept embodied in the Arab society. This paper will convey how the notion of patriarchy is illustrated within the Arabs customs, traditions, laws, and even religion. More importantly, this paper will argue that even

Today’s society is filled with a lot of pressure among our young people. They’re a lot more bold, and liberal which causes a lot of influence and problems. For an example, it’s almost rare to go to middle school, and not be exposed to drugs, sex, and violence. Drugs are used to experiment, and in most cases, it becomes a bad habit as young as 15 years old. Kids are taught that it’s cool if you go against authority, and do the complete opposite. Tweens are more sexually active than before, that it’s almost abnormal to be a virgin at age 14. Most boys lose their virginity before 15 years old, and the percentage among young girls have increased over the years. It soon becomes “un-cool” to be a virgin, and they’re forced into peer pressure to have sex and lose their childhood. Young men usually lose it before young girls, so most of the time, it’s the young men who are pressuring the girls to conform. Most young boys don’t think of oral sex to be actual sex, they just write it off as “fooling around.” In that case, they feel it’s okay to do it, and girls are more prone to take part in it, because in their eyes, it’s not the real thing. I can remember as far back to 6th grade, my best friend was 11, and she was pregnant. Her family was actually proud that she was having a baby, while my family no longer allowed me to be friends with her. Families are a big factor when it comes to

It it is difficult, if not impossible, to make informed decisions when one’s education on a subject is incomplete, misleading, flat-out inaccurate, or nonexistent. Before a young adult is permitted to operate a motor vehicle without adult supervision, they are required by law to undergo months of preparation, learning about the importance of safety and discretion on the road. In contrast, youth often encounter their first sexual desires, and even sexual partners, without adequate preparation. These two activities differ in that unprotected sexual activity is not and cannot be regulated by law enforcement the way that unlicensed driving is. Instead, religious institutions have endeavored to police the choices of women through the implementation of abstinence-only-until-marriage (AOUM) curricula. The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 allocated $50 million to abstinence-only sexual education, that, among other things, taught “abstinence outside of marriage as the expected standard” and “the only certain way to avoid pregnancy [and sexually transmitted infections,]” states a 2011 Psychology in the Schools article (Walcott, et. al., 829). It is unclear whose best interest such a curriculum has at heart. The primary aim of

The infamous ideal of waiting until marriage, no matter if it’s ‘right’ or not, is claimed as the set standard of youth:"Nationally, rates of teen sexual activity have declined over the past fifteen years, yet even so, about half of all high school youth report having sex and more than one in five report having had four or more partners by the time they graduate from high school” (Dailard 73). Some teens, in fact “about half” are able to abstain from sex, meaning no pregnancy, and no STDs and the number is only growing. "There is no question...that increased abstinence meaning delayed vaginal intercourse among young people- has played a role in reducing both teen pregnancy rates in the United States and HIV rates in at least one developing country." Logic will tell that not having sex leads to not getting pregnant and not transmitting sexual diseases. "... while some teens promising to abstain from sex until

(Barnett, 2017, 102) To summarize this, some people may feel pressured that their first time will impact the rest of their life. That same researcher focused on gender with virginity in a different article they conducted and indicated that “gender differences play a meaningful role in understanding sexual definitions”. (Barnett, 2017, 204) This article helped me to elaborate on my research question, and the subject of gender influence will be my main focus as I perform interview questions.

“Present day American society – whether through pop culture, religion, or institutions – conflates sexuality and morality constantly. Idolizing virginity as a stand-in for women’s morality means that nothing else matters – not what we accomplish, not what we think, not what we care about and work for. Just if/how/whom we have sex with. That’s all.” This quote by Jessica Valenti represents just one specific standard for women. This one standard is that women are expected to be a “saint” and mold into what is right and wrong. The thing is, there should be no right and wrong. Virginity is a big dilemma in the world of young women. It somehow seems to determine if a woman is “good” or not. Jessica Valenti also says in her book, “You can be vapid, stupid, and unethical, but so as long as you’ve never had sex, you’re a “good (i.e., “moral”) girl and therefore worthy of praise.” This idea that virginity determines if a woman is a good person is not okay, and needs to stop. In fact,