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Hymenoplasty or Hymen Reconstructive Surgery is ILLEGAL
“If we educate communities to reverse this backward mentality concerning virginity, there would be no need for hymen reconstruction. It would go out of business on its own.”
Halaleh Taheri
MEWSo Founder and Executive Director
The Hymen
What is Hymenoplasty?
Why is it bogus science?
Better known as hymen repair or reconstruction surgery, hymenoplasty is an operation to stitch a woman's hymen so that it appears unbroken.
No-one should be subjected to unnecessary medical procedures, which is why MEWSo was the first to campaign against this back in 2019.
Hymen reconstruction surgeries are unnecessary because they are based on a lie. A woman's hymen cannot prove if she is a virgin. This is a myth based on Medieval tradition and bogus science.
Facts About Hymen Reconstruction
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The surgery usually follows on from a 'failed' virginity test.
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It is entirely based on pseudoscience. The hymen cannot show if a woman is a virgin or not.
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Doctors examined the hymens of 36 pregnant teenagers. They discovered that 34 of them still had their hymens intact. (Pediatrics: Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. 'Genital Anatomy in Pregnant Adolescents: "Normal" Does Not Mean "Nothing" Happened.' January 2004. Nancy D. Kellogg, Shirley W. Menard and Annette Santos)
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The procedure is for 'cosmetic' purposes only.
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Women never willingly opt for this surgery. She either feels pressured or forced into it because of the danger she faces if it is believed she is not a virgin.
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Clinics that carry out the operation are making lots and lots of money out of women's anxiety and distress.
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Many women who have the procedure can also suffer years of severe pain and discomfort during sex. However, they won't complain to the clinics because the entire event is carried out under the strictest secrecy.
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The existence of procedures like this help perpetuate backward thinking: that women are possessions; that their virginity is their most valuable asset, and that that asset belongs to men.
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The myth about the hymen continues to be perpetuated to keep women and their bodies under the control of men.
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All of these facts are also true of hymen repair kits that promise to restore a woman's virginity without the need for surgery. Selling them profits from the misery of women, too.
Watch the film 'Like A Virgin' made by MEWSo's Natasha Feroze to understand more about the Virginity Industry and the issues involved.
"I was so alone. I didn't know anyone who could support me. No one in my family knew about how far I went in my relationship with my ex-boyfriend.
Then I remembered that when I was at Uni, girls would talk about a special kind of surgery. I was terrified, but I didn't have a choice."
Anonymous woman, 39 years-old
We Can Help
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Help you recognise controlling and abusive behaviour
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Advise you of your rights
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Support you if you refuse to have the surgery
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Support you if you need to get away
If you, or a friend, is in a controlling or abusive situation in the home and need help
Call: 07780 983 152
Email: office@mewso.org
If you are in immediate danger, call 999 and speak to the police.
"Women who have been forced to undergo hymen repair surgery are reduced to nothing more than an object to be desired by men, rather than seen as human beings."
Halaleh Taheri
MEWSo Founder and Executive Director
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Hymen repair surgery and hymen repair kits are now ILLEGAL.
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And virginity tests that feed the need for surgery are ILLEGAL too.
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But we are still working tirelessly to challenge the beliefs that pressurise women into seeking such surgery.
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We want Government, health & social care professionals, schools & our sister charities to educate women to spot controlling and abusive behaviour.
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To educate the community about the myths of the hymen and virginity, so that procedures like this are not driven underground.
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To raise the status of women so they are seen as more than just their virginity.
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To support women in raising their voices.
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To help women lead the lives they want to lead.
Campaign
"The Government must help educate the community, beginning in the schools. Banning these surgeries without proper education will only force women to resort to clandestine practises, and expose them to even greater risks from unsafe, unhygienic medical practises."
Halaleh Taheri
MEWSo Founder and Executive Director
MEWSo's conference on virginity testing & hymen repair surgery, May 2021. Conference speakers included sister charities also campaigning for a ban, medical experts, politicians and women who have endured such procedures.
Dr Ashfaq Khan, Obstetrics & Gynaecology Consultant,
NHS & Harley Street.
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