Sometimes it's not the groom who gets the honor of taking his bride's virginity. Instead, the girl is held down while a family member wraps a white cloth around a forefinger and sends it home, showing inquisitive neighbors the results. If the bride fails to bleed, it is assumed she has had pre-marital sexual relations. To remove this shame, the bride's family members may kill her. Unfortunately, blood is not an accurate indicator of sexual virginity.
Many girls lose their hymen as children in accidents, playing or masturbating.
As girls grow older, the hymen becomes more stretched and fragile and less likely to bleed at all when it breaks. Prostitutes are said to pay LE100 to have their inner labia stitched so tight that they appear to be virgin for their entire career. Rural Egypt is fiercely conservative, while urban society is remarkable for its disparity. Among these, is a modest sprinkling of Muslim women who parade around unveiled in alluring tight clothes. Christian women are not required to wear higab, but show similar extremes.