The latest titilation from Egypt

Oy vey, where to begin?

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Egypt anger over virginity faking

A leading Egyptian scholar has demanded that people caught importing a female virginity-faking device into the country should face the death penalty.

Abdul Mouti Bayoumi said supplying the item was akin to spreading vice in society, a crime punishable by death in Islamic Sharia law.[MORE]

Meanwhile, men are getting it on with impunity. Given the double standards and life changing penalties many women face for making the same mistakes as the guys, I’m not sure I’m all that concerned about this, at least so long as this doesn’t result in the spread of venereal disease. It takes two to tango, too.

It’s not right for people to misrepresent their sexual past to prospective spouses, of course, but neither is having your life ruined for a mistake that is commonplace in your generation, which much of “modern” culture seems designed to encourage and which is undetectable among your male peers.

I also find it very saddening to see a prominent scholar could advocate such a ridiculously draconian measure for an action that does not cause people any physical harm. This would hardly be the only source of vice in Egyptian life.

However one feels about the ethics of this device, such a call makes a mockery of Islamic law. (And, accepting these bizarre premises for a moment for the sake of conversation, what about the fact that a girl can rupture her hymen through a variety of non-sexual activities? Should someone be killed for aiding such a girl in protecting her honor and marital prospects?)