ABSTRACT
Since a Personal Status Code (PSC) promulgated in 1956 outlawed repudiation and polygamy and made divorce judicial (see Charrad this volume), the Tunisian family has undergone a major transformation in some of the values that are the basis of relationships between its members.2 The new generations of couples, belonging to a middle class that comprises 35 percent of the total population, elaborated a culture that broke away from their “traditional” imaginary but adhered to the basis of their moral values. In this chapter, I focus on the notion of “shame,” to illustrate the change in relations between men and women, from having a basis in the woman’s sexual subjection through defloration, to having a basis in fidelity, a symbolic pact where one’s word is given freely. To analyze this change, I address three phenomena: the privatization of the wedding night and families’ acceptance of this; women’s work outside the home, which no longer endangers men’s honor; and the presence of the men in private space, without disturbing their sexual identity.3
