History Main / ConsummationCounterfeit

Few brides relish the thought of consummating an ArrangedMarriage. The servants are sure to gossip if they don't see the [[VirginityTropes "blood on the sheets"]] the next morning, too. There's just one problem -- you've already done the nasty with someone else, but they ''need to see that blood''. If they don't, you could be facing execution (either [[HonorRelatedAbuse at the hands of your family]] or the state), banishment, or good old SlutShaming from everyone who hears about it.

Subtrope of VirginityFlag. See also CommonHollywoodSexTraits.

The most common way is faking the "blood on the sheets" by using the bride's own blood or that of an animal's -- the husband will think the marriage was sufficiently consummated. This is common among noble women who don't go to their marriage bed virgins, especially in societies that value ladies' maidenheads. A variation is to not actually consummate the marriage at all - render your husband incapable of consummating, then fake the blood and let everyone believe you did it. Yet another is to have your husband in on it, which is often the case for more sympathetic grooms. Of course, false "evidence" may be required even if the wife ''was'' a virgin, as [[RealityIsUnrealistic the majority of women do not actually bleed after their first time having intercourse]]. Try telling the writers that, though.

* In ''Literature/MaledictionTrilogy'' human girl Cecile is married to troll prince Tristan in order to fulfill a prophecy. He is a decent guy and does not want to force her, he even goes to sleep on the sofa - but his father demands that marriage be consumed and offspring produced. Since trolls themselves [[CanNotTellALie cannot lie]], Tristan tells his wife to lie about what happened during the night. He also pretends to be totally disgusted by his wife so that she does not have to lie too often.
* In ''Literature/TheSerpentAndDoveTrilogy'' Lou and Reid need to consummate their marriage, or it won't be official. However Lou does not want to sleep with him and Reid doesn't want to force her, so she cuts open her arm and lets her blood drip on the bed to fake a consumation.

* The ''[[Literature/WildTales1967 Wild Tales]]'' short story ''[[http://groznijat.tripod.com/litera/n_hajtov5.html The Seed of the Dervishovs]]'' by Bulgarian writer [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolay_Haytov Nikolay Haytov]] has the trope [[InvertedTrope inverted]] and [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructed]]. In a mountainous village, an ArrangedMarriage happens between a boy and a girl. [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage They fall for each other]], but [[TwiceShy both are shy]] and he doesn't want to [[MaritalRapeLicense force himself]] on her. They fake the consummation in order for the village to leave them alone and let them stay together. It works, however when a brutish neighbor notices that the girl isn't getting pregnant for a long time, he deduces she's still a virgin. He bribes her brothers into kidnapping her and [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty forcefully marries her]], [[MaritalRapeLicense making]] [[IHaveYourWife everyone's]] [[IWantGrandkids life]] miserable.

* In the ''Literature/BookOfExodus'', a woman who ''cannot'' produce "evidence" that she was a virgin on her wedding night on her husband's (or in-laws') demand is to be [[HonorRelatedAbuse stoned to death by the men of her community right on her father's doorstep (or left on her father's doorstep after the fact).]] This is the same punishment she'd face if she'd had an affair ''after'' the wedding: the "engagement" was considered the be partially marriage. However, if she (or rather, her parents) ''were'' able to produce a bloodied sheet or garment to show her husband/in-laws/neighbors/whoever, then her husband (or whoever made the accusation) was to receive ATasteOfTheLash. (And if it ''was'' the groom that made the accusation in that case, [[AwfulWeddedLife then he was never allowed to divorce her]].) It should be noted that the Jewish explanation in the Oral law treats showing a bloodied sheet as an expression, and takes into account other reasons for lack of blood.

* Mentioned in a roundabout way in ''Literature/JudgeDee'', when Ma Jong mentions that Mongol women aren't required to be virgins on marriage, as they spend most of their childhood riding horses (which would naturally tear their maidenhead).

* In a segment of ''Series/AdamRuinsEverything'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ikXim4wevc Emily Axford takes apart the myth of the hymen as a "barrier"]] and its use as a VirginityFlag.

* As mentioned above, this was very common in royalty and nobility, where no "blood on the sheets" would be taken as a sign that either no consummation had taken place or the bride wasn't a virgin on her wedding night. Either option would bring shame upon the couple. In some cases, the stained wedding night bedsheet would be saved as evidence against future attempts to impugn the bride's honor.
* In some places that still place a high value on a woman's virginity at marriage, there exist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginity_restoration_surgery a few surgical procedures]] (though they might be illegal, in order to prevent this trope.) One such procedure involves creating an artificial hymen (that has no actual blood supply, but contains a packet of fake blood.)
* It should be noted that many women actually ''don't'' bleed the first time they experience penetrative sex. [[http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/women-suffer-myths-hymen-and-virginity-test There is no way to reliably tell whether a woman is a virgin or not.]]

%%* ''Film/EasyA'' but with noises rather than physical proof

* Creator/PhilippaGregory has used this trope a couple of times.
** In ''Literature/TheConstantPrincess'', Catherine of Aragon cuts her foot to stain the sheets in order to fool Henry VIII into thinking she was a virgin on their wedding night and had not consummated her marriage to Prince Arthur.
** The trope gets used again in ''Literature/TheCousinsWarSeries''. In ''The White Princess'' Henry Tudor cuts Elizabeth of York's foot in order to fake it. In this instance, it's because not only had Henry and Elizabeth had slept together prior to their marriage, but Elizabeth had previously slept with Richard III too.

* Invoked in ''Literature/TheFiresStone'' when Aaron offers to kill a chicken to stain the sheets on Chandra and Darvish's wedding night.

* ''{{Series/Camelot}}'': Guinevere puts some pig's blood on her bedsheets after her wedding night with Leontes, worried he would know she lost her virginity to Arthur otherwise.
* In a segment of ''Series/AdamRuinsEverything'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ikXim4wevc Emily Axford takes apart the myth of the hymen as a "barrier"]] and its use as a VirginityFlag.
* ''Series/TheWhitePrincess'': Having already raped Elizabeth prior to their wedding, Henry takes a knife to their wedding bed and cuts her foot to get blood on the sheets. He knows she's pregnant and won't have talk of their son being conceived extramaritally.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/{{Yentl}}'', the title character is a woman pretending to be male so she can go to school. She gets trapped into an arranged marriage with a woman who doesn't particularly want to marry "him" either. On their wedding night they play around non-sexually in their bedroom and Yentl "accidentally" spills some red wine on the bed, which is taken by the others at the wedding night party as proof of consummation.

** The trope gets used again in ''Literature/TheCousinsWar'' series. In ''The White Princess'' Henry Tudor cuts Elizabeth of York's foot in order to fake it. In this instance, it's because not only had Henry and Elizabeth had slept together prior to their marriage, but Elizabeth had previously slept with Richard III too.

* Happens in the second duology of ''Literature/ArciaChronicles'': [[spoiler:Dariolo Kerna]] is supposed to be a virgin when she marries Arthur Barrot, when, in fact, she already has two (illegitimate) children from [[spoiler:Alexander]]. Arthur, being [[IdiotHero not the sharpest tool in the shed]] and [[LoveMakesYouDumb madly in love with her]], assumes her hymen was broken while riding a horse and cuts himself to produce a stained bedsheet as proof that his wife was a virgin before marriage, as the nobility custom dictates.

* There is an old joke where a man, on his wedding night, has trouble with consummating the relationship. So once the wife falls asleep, he cuts his finger and smears the sheet with blood. An hour later, when he is asleep, the wife wakes up, sees the sheet, thinks for a moment and [[spoiler:uses the sheet to blow her nose]][[note]]Snot looks like ejaculate.[[/note]].
** An alternate version of the joke has the young couple staying at an inn, where the innkeeper finds the bloody bedsheets and, overjoyed that there are still "virtuous" couples in the world, lets the couple stay free of charge. Many years later, the now-old couple visits the same inn again, and when the wife blows her nose on the sheets, her husband asks her what she's doing. She answers: "You saved my honor once, now I'll [[TheLoinsSleepTonight save your reputation.]]"
* A woman is worried that her husband-to-be will think she's not a virgin in their nuptials because her hymen has been ruptured. So a friend suggests she place a deflated balloon inside her vagina so he won't have that assumption. On their wedding night, when they are both naked in bed, the husband looks into his new wife's vagina, puzzled. "What's wrong, honey?", she asks nervously "Is there anything wrong with my hymen?" "I don't know", he answers, "I've never seen one with 'Happy Birthday' written on it."
** There is a variant with a sausage wrapping and a kashrut certificate.

* In romance novels with ArrangedMarriage, a gentleman will use his own blood to do the faking.

* In Abel Posse's ''Dogs of Paradise'', Isabella and Ferdinand had some trouble waiting until the wedding night... so they present a large Japanese flag.

* In Elizabeth Chadwick's ''The Greatest Knight'' William Marshal, the knight of the title, has just been rewarded for years of good service with the hand of a rich royal ward. The girl is frightened and William is nursing a wounded leg so he suggests a rain check on the consummation and supplies the necessary blood himself with a prick of his dagger commenting that the better the lover the less the blood. As it turns out he could have saved himself the trouble as her period starts in the night giving them the perfect excuse to put of the consummation till they get to know each other a little better. By the time her period ends Isabelle's only doubt is whether it would be to forward for her to remind William that they have unfinished business.

** In ''The Constant Princess'', Catherine of Aragon cuts her foot to stain the sheets in order to fool Henry VIII into thinking she was a virgin on their wedding night and had not consummated her marriage to Prince Arthur.

* The 1986 miniseries ''Peter The Great'' by NBC Productions showed the newly crowned Czar Peter of Russia taking the introverted virgin Eudoxia to the honeymoon bed. When Eudoxia claims that she must "sacrifice" herself for the good of Russia rather than out of love for Peter, Czar Peter shatters a wine bottle and lances his finger with a shard. His blood stains the center of the bedsheet, which he then displays proudly to his loyal palace guards downstairs.
* Brazilian soap opera author Glória Perez is fond of this trope, when writing about ArrangedMarriage in conservative cultures, as in the soaps ''Explode Coração'' and ''O Clone''. In these occasions, the men were aware that their respective wives weren't virgin, then they cut themselves and bled in the bedsheet.

* Done by accident in ''Queen of the Dead'' by Creator/AGnosis. Persephone's period starts shortly after being abducted by Hades. She sardonically tells Hades that they can use the bloodied sheets as 'proof' that he took her virginity (which is wrong on both counts; she's not a virgin and he never touched her).

* In the medieval bodice-ripper ''Enchanted'' (the final in a trilogy), the heroine refuses to sleep with the hero on their wedding night (readers know, but he doesn't, that she was raped and therefore has a ParalyzingFearOfSexuality). So he cuts himself and spills blood on the bed so that necessary people believe that they've consummated their marriage.

* In a Vietnamese miniseries that took place in a Northern mountain region where minority ethnic groups live, the main female character is a young woman who [[ArrangedMarriage is married to a young man by their parents]]. Unbeknownst to everyone, [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys she has been]] [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter going out with]] [[BigBad a gangster]] and not only is no longer a virgin but also pregnant. On her wedding night, she tearfully tells her new husband the truth and [[NiceGuy the man]], despite being extremely angry, decided to protect her by stopping her from [[InterruptedSuicide eating the poisonous leaves she carried with her]] and then cutting his hand so the family's women can see "the evidence" in the morning when they come to help clean up.

* It should be noted that many women actually ''don't'' bleed the first time they experience penetrative sex. In fact, blood on the sheets is a sign that there was not enough lubrication and/or that things got a little too rough, whether the woman was a virgin or not. [[http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/women-suffer-myths-hymen-and-virginity-test There is no way to reliably tell whether a woman is a virgin or not.]]

* ''Film/EasyA'' but with noises rather than physical proof

* In ''Literature/MaledictionTrilogy'' human girl Cecile is married to troll prince Tristan in order to fulfill a prophecy. He is a decent guy and does not want to force her, he even goes to sleep on the sofa - but his father demands that marriage be consumed and offspring produced. Since trolls themselves [[CanNotTellALie cannot lie]], Tristan tells his wife to lie about what happened during the night. He also pretends to be totally disgusted by his wife so that she does not have to lie too often.