Virginity “restored” and the biggest of all the donkeys

The New York Times has an article today about European Muslim women having surgery to “restore” their hymens. Says the Times: Gynecologists say that in the past few years, more Muslim women are seeking certificates of virginity to provide proof to others. That in turn has created a demand among cosmetic surgeons for hymen replacements, […]

The New York Times has an article today about European Muslim women having surgery to “restore” their hymens.

Says the Times: Gynecologists say that in the past few years, more Muslim women are seeking certificates of virginity to provide proof to others. That in turn has created a demand among cosmetic surgeons for hymen replacements, which, if done properly, they say, will not be detected and will produce tell-tale vaginal bleeding on the wedding night. The service is widely advertised on the Internet; medical tourism packages are available to countries like Tunisia where it is less expensive.

“I was afraid that my father would take me to a doctor and see whether I was still a virgin,” said the woman, 32, who owns a small business and lives on her own in Frankfurt. “He told me, ‘I will forgive everything but not if you have thrown dirt on my honor.’ I wasn’t afraid he would kill me, but I was sure he would have beaten me.”


Two weeks ago it was reported that a French judged annulled the 2006 marriage of two French Muslims because the groom found his bride was not the virgin she had claimed to be.

I like this guy: “The man is the biggest of all the donkeys,” said Abdelkibir Errami, vice president of the Islamic Center of Roubaix, the Lille suburb where the wedding took place . “Even if the woman was no longer a virgin, he had no right to expose her honor. This is not what Islam teaches. It teaches forgiveness.” // //

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Over at Slate, William Saletan makes a weak case for the surgery.

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