Surgery for Muslim Women

[Liza_Do_A_Lot]

 Women seek surgery to repair virginity

ReligionAndSpirituality.com
May 1, 2007
Young Muslim women in France are increasingly taking advantage of a surgical procedure to, in effect, restore their virginity. The 30-minute outpatient procedure, called "hymenoplasty," restores the broken hymen and costs between 1,500 and 3,000 euros ($2,000-$4,000).
   
    Paris Doctor Marc Abecassis told Reuters demand for the surgery has been rising for the past three or four years. He said he gets three to five queries and performs one to three hymenoplasties a week. His patients are mostly between 18 and 45 years old, Muslim, born both in France and in North Africa, Reuters reported Tuesday.
   
    He sees the rise in religion among France's 5 million Muslims fuelling this trend. "Many of my patients are caught between two worlds," having had sex but expected to be virgins at marriage, he said.
   
    Abecassis' patients dress, speak and act like typical young Parisian women, but silently juggle traditional Muslim and modern French values. Two patients Reuters interviewed under condition of anonymity said they planned to marry and didn't want to disappoint their Muslim fiances.
   
    Some doctors say resewing the hymen violates ideals of sexual freedom and personal liberty. "The surgery is an attack on women's dignity," said Professor Jacques Lansac, president of The National College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians of France. "We will not take part in a market that places value on the quality of a woman—if she's good or not. It is an attack on women's liberty."
   
    Since 2004 when France passed a law banning religious garb, notably headscarves, from state primary and secondary schools, some French Muslims have been emphasizing certain customs to express their identity. "Today it's the two 'V's'—veil and virginity. It's a social phenomenon," Abecassis said.
     

[HappyWife]

There will never be these stupid expectations or surgeries for men of course...more of the same.

[Mommie2Boys]

YUCK!!!  If it's sewn, will it be twice as painful when it's torn again? Or will it be that much harder or impossible? That is just wrong. I guess in the Muslim religion there's no such things as forgiveness? "Yes, dear, I know you had relations before me, but it's in the past"?

[kmomto6]

It's nothing new and it's not just Muslim women. Indian women who go back to India for their arranged marriages also have it done.

[Cyriacus]

As much as it violates our sensibilities (a bit silly since aesthetic surgery of the female genitalia is en vogue in upper-class America; one need only open a local periodical catering to the wealthy to see clinics listed offering "vaginal rejuvenation"), offering these surgeries discreetly to women is actually quite wise. In the context of Islamic culture, the virginity of the bride is an extremely strong social expectation, and a bride that is found dissatisfactory in that regard is subject to divorce or, rarely, an honor killing. Such murders over the sexual indiscretions of women have occurred even in Europe among the Muslim immigrant communities.

I feel little sympathy for these women, trying to have their cake and eat it to, as it were, in appearance conforming to sexual temperance (I know the hymen can be broken in other ways or may be naturally not present, but for these women it is the exception), while having fornicated on the side. I feel sorry for the sincere and chaste Muslim men who contract marriage with veil-wearing North African girls claiming pre-marital purity but who instead just "reversed" the earlier trysts with Mahmoud and Jacques which were, anyway, conducted with full knowledge that when it comes time to marry, it would take only a quick snip-and-sew to sail smoothly into respectable Islamic domesticity.

As for Professor Jacques Lansac's remark, ("We will not take part in a market that places value on the quality of a woman—if she's good or not. It is an attack on women's liberty.") who doesn't value a chaste woman, and who thinks a woman (or a man for that matter) should be granted the liberty of consequence-free fornication?

[Sophia]

 (I know the hymen can be broken in other ways or may be naturally not present, but for these women it is the exception),

Is it the exception?  I really wonder.

 I feel sorry for the sincere and chaste Muslim men who contract marriage with veil-wearing North African girls claiming pre-marital purity but who instead just "reversed" the earlier trysts with Mahmoud

What I don't understand is how sincere and chaste Muslim men would know what to look for when it comes to a "broken" hymen.

[ErinIsNice]

As much as it violates our sensibilities (a bit silly since aesthetic surgery of the female genitalia is en vogue in upper-class America; one need only open a local periodical catering to the wealthy to see clinics listed offering "vaginal rejuvenation"), offering these surgeries discreetly to women is actually quite wise. In the context of Islamic culture, the virginity of the bride is an extremely strong social expectation, and a bride that is found dissatisfactory in that regard is subject to divorce or, rarely, an honor killing. Such murders over the sexual indiscretions of women have occurred even in Europe among the Muslim immigrant communities.

I feel little sympathy for these women, trying to have their cake and eat it to, as it were, in appearance conforming to sexual temperance (I know the hymen can be broken in other ways or may be naturally not present, but for these women it is the exception), while having fornicated on the side. I feel sorry for the sincere and chaste Muslim men who contract marriage with veil-wearing North African girls claiming pre-marital purity but who instead just "reversed" the earlier trysts with Mahmoud and Jacques which were, anyway, conducted with full knowledge that when it comes time to marry, it would take only a quick snip-and-sew to sail smoothly into respectable Islamic domesticity.

As for Professor Jacques Lansac's remark, ("We will not take part in a market that places value on the quality of a woman—if she's good or not. It is an attack on women's liberty.") who doesn't value a chaste woman, and who thinks a woman (or a man for that matter) should be granted the liberty of consequence-free fornication?

Do you have any idea how prevalent rape and sexual abuse are in Muslim communities?  And if a woman is raped, it makes her just as undesirable to a future husband as if she consented.  I'm sure some women are having this done because they have been out doing whatever they wanted, but most are probably just trying to prevent being physically abused (by either their husbands or their fathers/brothers/etc) or even killed. 

[Mommie2Boys]

I feel sorry for the sincere and chaste Muslim men who contract marriage with veil-wearing North African girls claiming pre-marital purity but who instead just "reversed" the earlier trysts with Mahmoud

Sincere and chaste?  I'm not saying this is never the case, but honestly, men have such the upper hand in the Muslim religion, I seriously doubt that they are all "chaste". If Muslim women are exploring their "sexual freedom" before marriage, then I highly doubt that the almighty male isn't doing the same.
 

I'm sure some women are having this done because they have been out doing whatever they wanted, but most are probably just trying to prevent being physically abused (by either their husbands or their fathers/brothers/etc) or even killed. 

This is a good point that I had not previously considered. How very sad for these women... :( That proves that women are obviously viewed as objects to these men.
 

[irishcatholic]

 

I'm sure some women are having this done because they have been out doing whatever they wanted, but most are probably just trying to prevent being physically abused (by either their husbands or their fathers/brothers/etc) or even killed. 

This is a good point that I had not previously considered. How very sad for these women... :( That proves that women are obviously viewed as objects to these men.
 

It's horrible, but I'm sure this is true. In Africa its very common for men to demand that a woman be sewn before/after each incident! Can you imagine!! It takes two to tango, but only one shows proof of the fact, so logically [not] she must be damaged. Barbaric!!!

[Cordyceps]

Let's be frank. Mohammedan culture (particularly among them men) is sick. These girls are trying to have their cake and eat it to. The French doctors are helping them at a profit (capitalism at work).

This does not make the value or chastity any less important for us. There is nothing wrong with desiring that your bride be a virgin. I know that my to-be is very proud of the fact that I will be her first, and I am proud that she will be my first. Would her lack of virginity make me think less of her? Yes. And I expect that she would feel the same way about me. But not so much less that it would really affect anything.

What should be done. Nothing. Just don't expect me to pay any taxes to support the vaginal reconstruction surguries.