`Virgin' bride ruling stirs furor in France

[Tesha]

Source: AP via the Toronto Star

`Virgin' bride ruling stirs furor in France

Muslim wasn't chaste, court annuls marriage

ELAINE GANLEY
Associated Press

PARIS–The bride said she was a virgin. When her new husband discovered that
was a lie, he went to court to annul the marriage – and a French judge agreed.

The ruling ending the Muslim couple's union has stunned France, raising
concerns the country's cherished secular values are losing ground to cultural
traditions from growing immigrant communities.

The decision also exposed the silent shame borne by some Muslim women who
transgress long-held customs demanding proof of virginity on the wedding night.

In its ruling, the court concluded the woman had misrepresented herself as a
virgin and that, in this particular marriage, virginity was a prerequisite.

But in treating the case as a breach of contract, the ruling was decried by
critics who said it undermined decades of progress in women's rights. Marriage,
they said, was reduced to the status of a commercial transaction in which women
could be discarded by husbands claiming to have discovered hidden defects in them.

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Read more: http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/437510