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Growing Numbers of Women Elect for Hymen Reconstruction
June 16, 2008 08:59 AM
by
Anne Szustek
Women raised in conservative families within liberal societies have a conflict in body politics. Is hymenoplasty a mark of feminist regression or a mode of empowerment?
30-Second Summary
France’s young female Muslims, usually first- or second-generation descendants of immigrants, enjoy the greater freedoms permitted in modern European society. But when engaged to men of similar backgrounds, it is the mores of their heritage that take precedence.
Fearing harm from their families or in-laws, more women are signing on for hymen replacement surgery in order to produce the telltale virginal blood on their wedding nights.
A 23-year-old French woman of Moroccan descent told The New York Times as she was getting prepped for the procedure, “In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt.”
“Namus,” often translated into English as “honor,” is an Islamic concept of family righteousness that hinges upon a woman’s propriety. First and foremost, women are to protect their own namus and in turn the esteem of the entire family. Any behavior deemed sexually “immoral”—from premarital sex to merely dressing provocatively--tarnishes the namus of a woman’s family.
Similar beliefs are endemic to other parts of the world and by adherents of other religions.
Cultural pressure is not the only reason women choose hymen restoration. Some women do it for appearance; others “do this as a Valentine’s present to their husbands,” said Dr. Marc Abecassis, who performs two to four hymenoplasty operations a week.
Dr. Andrew Mackintosh, who as of 2004 was performing “vaginal rejuvenation” surgeries out of his clinic in Auckland, New Zealand, said that “some women had it done … as an add-on to more functional operations.”
Fearing harm from their families or in-laws, more women are signing on for hymen replacement surgery in order to produce the telltale virginal blood on their wedding nights.
A 23-year-old French woman of Moroccan descent told The New York Times as she was getting prepped for the procedure, “In my culture, not to be a virgin is to be dirt.”
“Namus,” often translated into English as “honor,” is an Islamic concept of family righteousness that hinges upon a woman’s propriety. First and foremost, women are to protect their own namus and in turn the esteem of the entire family. Any behavior deemed sexually “immoral”—from premarital sex to merely dressing provocatively--tarnishes the namus of a woman’s family.
Similar beliefs are endemic to other parts of the world and by adherents of other religions.
Cultural pressure is not the only reason women choose hymen restoration. Some women do it for appearance; others “do this as a Valentine’s present to their husbands,” said Dr. Marc Abecassis, who performs two to four hymenoplasty operations a week.
Dr. Andrew Mackintosh, who as of 2004 was performing “vaginal rejuvenation” surgeries out of his clinic in Auckland, New Zealand, said that “some women had it done … as an add-on to more functional operations.”
Headline Link: ‘In Europe, Debate Over Islam and Virginity’
Two weeks ago a French court annulled the marriage of a Muslim engineer who discovered on his wedding night that his bride was not a virgin. The suit cited “breach of contract” as the reason. Feminist writer Elisabeth Badinter said of the case, “It sends these women a message of despair by saying that virginity is important in the eyes of the law.”
Source: The New York Times (free registration may be required)
Background: Namus, secular hymen restoration
Sociologist Aysan Sever writes that, in Turkey, “The droplets of blood in the culturally sanctioned nuptial night of losing virginity are linked to the evaluation of the worthiness of women.” She says that in more remote regions “girls are subjected to arbitrary ‘virginity’ examinations or where the bloodied sheets have to be displayed on the clothesline or presented to the in-laws to prove virginity. There are reported cases of reversal of marital contracts due to lack of proof. Such reversals are deemed a grave dishonor to the woman and even a greater insult to the ‘namus’ of her male kin.”
Source: University of Toronto
The Feb. 27, 2004 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald announced the opening of New Zealand’s first “appearance gynecology” clinic. The private practice at Auckland’s Ascot Hospital offers patients hymen restoration, labial reconstruction and repairing any damage incurred by childbirth. The Australian paper writes that gynecologist Dr. Andrew Mackintosh said, “Some women had it done for appearance sake, often as an add-on to more functional operations.”
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Lisa Wade, a professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, writes in The Huffington Post that laws intended to dissuade female genital mutilation exempt licensed doctors. “So, if you are woman in the United States (or a teenage girl with parental permission), you can have your clitoris reduced … your hymen repaired … your vagina tightened … or your vulva ‘sculpted.’” She lauds Egypt’s Ministry of Health’s recent move to ban female genital mutilation and encourages women to fully analyze elective genital surgery before having it done.
Source: The Huffington Post
Opinion & Analysis: A critical look at namus
Widney Brown, an advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, says that, in Islamic countries, murders of women who are judged by their families to have wounded their reputation are “called honor killings, but dowry deaths and so-called crimes of passion have a similar dynamic in that the women are killed by male family members and the crimes are perceived as excusable or understandable.”
Source: National Geographic
The “Dear Adam and Chancellor” page on Islamic information site Submission.org answers a question from a girl about whether pads are preferable to tampons. The answer points out that using internal menstrual protection usually results in a broken hymen, which could cause problems upon marriage. But “In my opinion if the person we are going to marry is going to be suspicious, it is better not to marry him anyway.”
Source: Submission.org
“Embroideries,” the follow-up to Iranian graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi’s best-seller “Persepolis,” tells of the author’s life growing up and drinking tea with her older female relatives who recounted their romantic exploits, such as wriggling out of an arranged marriage with a much-older army general and getting vaginal rejuvenation surgery. The book is available from the Dulcinea Media Store.
Source: Dulcinea Media Store
Related Topics: ‘Female Circumcision Comes to America’
Female genital mutilation, a coming-of-age ritual that pre-dates the Abrahamic religions, has accompanied immigrants from East Africa, where the practice is prevalent. Doctors and law enforcement officials are at an impasse between cultural sensitivities and what many consider a “harmful, brutal practice.” The procedure, which includes slicing off the clitoris and much of the labia, is the female equivalent of cutting off much of the penis. It is often done without anesthesia in unsanitary conditions. Yet many East African women feel they will be seen as impure outcasts undesirable by men if they do not adhere to the tradition.
Source: Atlantic Monthly
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