Nor does family honor in any way rest on the preservation of male virginity prior to marriage. The application of these different standards to men and women results in women's behavior being assessed for its sexual implications by family members when men's behavior is not so scrutinized. This assumes its most extreme form as a forced virginity exam. Social norms encourage families to act in defense of their honor, and legal norms protect their ability to do so. Both female and male honor arelinked to the maintenance of female chastity, although not to male chastity.
Paramount importance is placed on female virginity.
The link between the concept of honor condoned by the state and the discriminatory control of women's virginity establishes a context in which a woman's right to bodily integrity and privacy, and therefore not to be subjected to a forcible and invasive bodily exam, is subordinate to the family's interest in maintaining its honor. Thus, at the request of family members, state and private physicians perform virginity exams on women, whether they are adults or minors. Where adult women are concerned, family monitoring of women's modesty is so prevalent in Turkish society that they rarely exercise their right to refuse virginity exams. There is no real consent because of family and police pressures. In many instances, according to local activists, the woman may not be aware that shehas a right to refuse.