title: Wrestling with the hymen: knowledge and attitudes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is a cultural gap between girls with virginity problems and the western healthcare professionals (HCPs) they approach for help.
  
  
  METHODS
  The lack of knowledge concerning virginity-related issues among non-Western migrants in the Netherlands is illustrated by means of a selection of quotations from messages received by a single sexual health service. The differences in cultural beliefs between non-Western and Western societies are also overviewed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  HCPs should have a better grasp of the ins and outs of the virginity norms prevailing in migrant communities. This would enable them to counsel the young women concerned more efficiently and to find practical, culturally acceptable solutions to their dilemmas.
authors.affiliation: Rutgershuis Oost , Arnhem , the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Loeber
mesh_terms: D003469:Culture; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D006924:Hymen; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D012746:Sexual Abstinence / Q000208:ethnology*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology
keywords: Attitude; Cultural norms; Hymen; Knowledge; Virginity