Becoming a Bride: Traditional Societies Coping with the Transition from Taboo on Sexuality to Family Life Among Bedouin Arabs and Haredi Jews

Abstract

Traditional societies in a modern setting regulate marriage and supervise sexual behaviour to guarantee survival of the traditional family structure. The taboo on sexuality prevents young people from obtaining reliable information on intimate relations between men and women before and after marriage. This study examines how two collectivist traditional communities, Bedouin Arabs and ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews, work through social, formal, and informal mechanisms to prepare young women for marriage. The findings show that while in the ultra-Orthodox community there is organized instruction encompassing Jewish law and behavioural norms and mental and emotional preparation for marriage, in Bedouin society such instruction is random, with the exception of one private instructor. While the ultra-Orthodox women describe this preparation as valuable and meaningful to them, the lack of social institutionalization of bride instruction leaves the Bedouin women at a disadvantage and preserves a patriarchal structure that harms her intimate rights and status in the family.