Private clinics in France have been busy with a 30-minute procedure that can represent the illusion of virginity for women known as hymenoplasty. According to the International Herald Tribune, gynaecologists throughout Europe have reported that in recent years, more Muslim women are requesting virginity certificates before marriage. The service is widely advertised on the Internet; there are medical tourism packages, for instance, that offer less expensive alternatives in countries like Tunisia. With the recent controversy of an annulled marriage in Lille, talk of the procedure has exploded throughout Europe. A comedy film opening in Italy this week, Women’s Hearts, tells the story of a Moroccan-born woman who journeys to Casablanca for the operation. The French College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians opposes the hymen procedure on moral, cultural and health grounds. The group’s president Jacques Lansac claims, Attaching so much importance to the hymen is regression, submission to the intolerance of the past. In some cases, couples decide together for the woman to have the surgery. One French woman described that It doesn’t matter for my fianc_ that I am not a virgin, but it would pose a huge problem for his family.
