Although the question of virginity seemed destined to disappear, there has been a resurgence of this custom. In the United Stated and in Europe, there are more and more women who join movements promoting abstinence until marriage. In Maghreb, far from claiming it as a choice, women continue to yield to tests to inspect their virginity. As a reaction to this pressure, a number of them resort to operations such as hymenoplasty (reconstruction of the hymen). And yet, as this film will show, physiologically, virginity does not exist. What is it a symbol of in our contemporary world?

For thirty years, in the Muslim world as in certain Western countries, conservative revolutions have once again brandished virginity as the symbol of a moral reconquest. And the "market" of virginity has never been so good: there are countless websites allowing you to find your lost "purity". Because women's virginity has never been just a private and intimate affair. And yet, virginity is only an invention, a myth built by history, religion, medicine. A fiction that imprisons women's bodies.

Since the post-May'68 sexual revolution, virginity was thought to have vanished; a forgotten and old-fashioned concept. However, virginity has put up some resistance. Female virginity, of course, since nobody's ever really cared about male virginity. (33) It's not just a question of old traditions. For the past 30 years, both in the Muslim world and in certain Western countries, conservative movements are once again brandishing virginity as a banner of moral crusade. Virginity isn't just an obsession for Religion.
The virginity market has never been so profitable. There are countless websites dedicated to "regaining" lost purity. (19) A woman's virginity has never been an intimate and private affair. (24) Linked to the institution of marriage, and serving as a guarantee of a family's honour, it challenges the social order. (30) Over the past few decades, it has even become a political issue.
The film investigates the condition of virgin women on several continents. In the Maghreb, in Egypt or in Indonesia, women still undergo humiliating practices of "verifying" their virginity and in the United States, "purity balls" bring sexual abstinence before marriage back into fashion.
However, virginity is merely an invention, a myth constructed by history, religion, and medicine; a fiction that imprisons a woman's body.

a film by Fériel BEN MAHMOUD

France, 2020, Documentary, 1h46 (Feature) & 53 mins (Short version), HD, Color, all audiences

Original Title: LIKE A VIRGIN
Country: France
Year: 2020
Type: DOCUMENTARY
Genres : History / society (Current Affairs) / Diverse
Duration: 106 minutes (1h46, Feature) & 53 mins (Short version)
Colors: Color
Format: HD
Tags: Gender, Woman, Human body, Religion, Economy, Tunisia, France, USA, Norway, Africa, Asia, Italy, Egypt, United States, Maghreb, Indonesia, Maghreb, Girls, Body, Feminism, Rights, Women, Wedding, History, Religion

PRESS
"A "ball of purity" in the United States. Ceremonies "Trophies of virgins" in Benin, election style of Miss France. Miracle products on the Internet to "find" your virginity. Our eyes remain wide open in front of this instructive documentary on the diktats, unfounded beliefs and instrumentalization of which the body of women is still the object. This film, which questions the conservative fall back of societies before the explosion of genres, succeeds in showing without caricature the persistence of the ideal of virginity in the world, while painstakingly deconstructing a myth. Striking, from start to finish."______ Telerama (Paris)

Voice Over:
Julie Pouillon

Executive producer:
Virginie Adoutte (Drôle de Trame)

Director:
Feriel Ben Mahmoud

Scriptwriter :
Feriel Ben Mahmoud

Image :
Guillaume Taverne, Edward Bally

Assembly :
Florence Brunet

Composer:
Kais Sellami

PRODUCTION
Drôle de Trame

CO-PRODUCTION
France 3 Île-de-France
TVM Est Parisien (TVM 93)

Participation:
CNC, Procirep, Angoa-Agicoa, Public Sénat

TV BROADCAST (on 30 January 2021)
Public Sénat
France 3 Paris Ile de France

DISTRIBUTION
Beliane
www.beliane.com/documentary/catalogue/current-affairs/like-a-virgin

WEB
https://vimeo.com/465674771
www.droledetrame.com/fr/projets/documentaires/like-a-virgin
www.france.tv/documentaires/societe/1988493-like-a-virgin.html
www.adavprojections.com/4DACTION/Web_Fiche/271076
www.beliane.com/fr/catalogue/current-affairs/like-a-virgin
www.beliane.com/documentary/catalogue/current-affairs/like-a-virgin


FESTIVALS
* Farel Prize (Feature Film Selection) /// Spirituality - Ethics - Religion International Film Festival (Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 2021)
* Panorama & "In our heads" selection /// Pariscience - Paris International Science Film Festival (Paris, France, 2021)
* Sélection /// Academia Film Olomouc
* Official selection /// Évreux International Education Film Festival (Évreux, France, 2020)