Conservative India’s continuing preference for a “virgin bride”, is seeing an increasing number of women going under the knife for hymen reconstruction surgeries
to keep intact the notion of the blushing, untouched spouse for their husbands-to-be.
Reports out of India said Punjabi parents are also heading back to their homeland to get their sexually-active daughters to undergo hymenoplasty ahead of an impending marriage.
“I didn’t care about it but I come from a conservative family. I couldn’t tell my parents that I am not a virgin. My parents have arranged my marriage. So I chose to get this surgery done,” a 25-year-old, who has recently got the surgery done, told IANS.
Hymen repair or re-virgination refers to a cosmetic surgery that restores the hymen. Hymenoplasty is a simple procedure that repairs a torn hymen.
According to Anup Dhir, cosmetologist at the Apollo Hospital, “There has been a steady rise in the demand for hymenoplasty surgery over the past few years”.
“There has been an increase of 20-30 percent in these surgeries every year. The majority of women who come for this surgery are in the age group 20 and 30,” Dhir said.
Agreed Anita Kant, head of obstetrics at the Asian Institute of Medical Sciences: “Hymen reconstruction surgery has become an emerging trend over the past three to four years.”
The main reason, experts say, is the prevalent conservative mindset. “In a conservative society like ours, many women feel that hymen reconstruction is a prerequisite to a good beginning of married life. Also they feel no matter how modern their partners are, the male mindset remains conservative in this regard and therefore the importance of being a virgin before marriage,” Kant told IANS.
However, while premarital sex is one of the reasons for rupture of the hymen, it is not the only reason.
“The reason cited by many women who come for hymenoplasty surgery is premarital sex. However, sex is not the only reason why the hymen can break. Sports activities, rigorous physical exercise and dance can also result in the tear,” said Biraj Nathani, senior plastic surgeon at Max Health Care hospital at Saket.
The surgery in itself takes about an hour and there are no side effects, said doctors. The cost of hymenoplasty depends on the set up - whether it’s done in a public or private hospital. In public hospitals, the cost ranges from about C$400, while in private hospitals the charges could be as high as C$1,500.
Another report in India said a small but increasing number of women are going in for hymenoplasty in cities in northern and western India. The list of takers is long — young upwardly mobile women between relationships, middle-aged women looking for sexual pleasure, rape victims wanting to undo the trauma, sex workers quitting the trade to marry or to gratify fussy clients, would-be-brides from West Asia afraid of honour killings, and non-resident Indian women about to get married.
“Women from various sections of society come to us,” says Ahmedabad-based surgeon Dr Hemant Saraiya.
“Young Gujarati girls come with the intent of keeping their husbands under the illusion that they are virgins. I’ve also operated upon sex workers who want to marry and settle down,” he says.
The trend is on the rise in parts of India, taking a cue from the West where hymenoplasty is seen as a fad in some quarters. “I get a lot of queries from Indians in the US and Britain,” says plastic surgeon Dr Bijal Parikh, who is also based in Ahmedabad. “If the trend picks up, this is going to be a big medical tourism destination for hymen reconstruction surgery,” says Dr Parikh.
Some doctors hold that Mumbai has also witnessed an increase in hymenoplasty numbers over the past few years.
Says Dr Milind Wagh, consultant aesthetic and reproductive surgeon at L.H. Hiranandani Hospital, Mumbai, “More women come in seeking hymenoplasty today than, say, five years ago, when the surgery was just picking up in India. Most of my patients are Indian. Some are foreigners or NRIs, who come to India for the low cost of surgery.”
Mumbai gynaecologist Dr Rishma Dhillon, however, holds that there are fewer women seeking hymenoplasty today than earlier. But she adds that she frequently encounters teenage Arab girls from West Asian countries accompanied by a family member for an abortion, followed by hymenoplasty.
A Chandigarh cosmetic surgery clinic acknowledges that many NRI Punjabi parents get their sexually-active daughters to undergo hymenoplasty ahead of an impending marriage.
Delhi-based cosmetic surgeon Dr Vijay Kakkar’s hospital gets at least two to three young women every month. The number of such cases, he says, has increased by 25 per cent over the last year. “While premarital sex is quite common, virginity is still an important issue in Indian marriages,” he says.
Most of these women, between 20 and 30 years of age, provide false addresses and telephone numbers.
“They seem to be living a life of dilemma — on the one hand, they believe in asserting their sexual needs and, on the other, are succumbing to traditional views,” Kakkar feels.
Doctors agree that those seeking hymenoplasty are mostly young women about to get married. But older women, many in their forties, have also approached doctors for the surgery. In Ahmedabad, which has seen an upswing in the number of referrals for hymenoplasty in recent years, Dr Bijal Parikh was approached by a middle-aged woman from the United States wanting to ‘gift’ her husband regained virginity on their 20th wedding anniversary.
Chandigarh-based cosmetic surgeon Dr V.D. Singh stresses that older women form about 40 per cent of all clients opting for hymenoplasty.
“A 42-year-old housewife from a well-to-do background recently came to me to get hymenoplasty done on her, so that she could gift her virginity once again to her husband on his 45th birthday,” says Singh.
Is hymenoplasty, ethically speaking, in the same league as other cosmetic surgeries like a nose job or a tummy tuck?
An interesting study on 20 second generation immigrant women in The Netherlands who had undergone hymen reconstruction recently revealed that it was in response to the ‘fulfilment of a person’s need rather than a response to their medical condition and hence was comparable to any other cosmetic surgery in ethics.”
Other views that came out from the study: “It amounts to conspiring.” “It confirms sexual inequality and is a deterrent to women’s psychology.”
Not surprisingly, women activists believe that hymenoplasty only reinforces stereotypes on the importance of virginity. “Instead of educating women, showing them the light of reason, doctors are reinforcing the myth about virginity being equated to an intact hymen,” says Illa Pathak, who heads the Ahmedabad Women Action Group.
But doctors insist that there is nothing wrong with the practice which is already popular in the West. Some argue that it is an individual’s right to feel good, and if a women is happy after hymenoplasty it is up to her to decide whether or not she wants it.
There is a flip-side to the surgery, of course. Though a simple process, some warn of complications. “There are chances of developing an infection, as in case of all surgeries, or of scars being left behind,” says Dr Taneja.
Adds Dr D.S.A. Surindher, “As the hymen is a very delicate tissue, there are chances that it can immediately rupture again after the reconstruction.”