‘It perpetuates a concept of virginity that hurts women’: Charities call for ‘hymen repair’ surgery to be made illegal

Charities have criticised the practice of ‘hymen repair’ surgery, or 'hymenoplasty', which is being marketed to women in the UK as a way to “restore” their virginity.

Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, told The Independent that the “horrendous practice” should be outlawed. “It reinforces a culture of abuse, is a form of violence against women and girls and we need to confront it,” she said.

Lisa Hallgarten, head of policy and public affairs at sexual health charity Brook, agreed it is “unethical” and “serves to reinforce dangerous misinformation about biology”.

Currently the surgery, which involves restoring a layer of skin at the entrance to the vagina to tear and potentially bleed when a woman has penetrative sex, is currently legal in the UK.

Guidance from the General Medical Council says doctors must obtain “informed consent” which “may not be valid if it is given under pressure or duress.”

The widespread nature of the practice was uncovered in an investigation by The Sunday Times, which reported concerns young Muslim women were being put under pressure by their families to undergo the surgery before getting married.

In the Quran unmarried Muslims are advised against sex before marriage.

The Independent found 22 private clinics were advertising the practice on Google, mainly on London’s Harley Street.

But experts in women’s sexual health say that the surgery is perpetuating outdated concepts of female virginity. Hallgarten says: “[The surgery] perpetuates the concept of virginity which is medically meaningless and hurts women and girls.

“Rather than profiting from these damaging myths, Brook would like to see medical professionals provide public education to dispel the myths that an ‘intact’ hymen should still be present in any woman who hasn’t had sexual intercourse; and that any woman who hasn’t had sexual intercourse will bleed at first sex, both of which are untrue.”

The NHS says that a woman bleeding the first time she has sex is not a guarantee. "Some women will bleed after having sex for the first time, while others won't. Both are perfectly normal.

"The hymen can break quite easily before a woman has sex for the first time, through activities such as horse riding or sports, using tampons.

"Having a broken hymen doesn't necessarily mean a woman has lost her virginity."

Hallgarten says the concept of virginity society currently has – that you can only be a virgin if you have an unbroken hymen or that loss of virginity only means penetrative sex – is “endangering women”.

“It may put them under pressure to participate in unwanted sexual practices,” she says, “[And] results in punitive and invasive virginity testing by families and may even be used to justify so called honour-based violence against women and girls.”

The 'hymenoplasty' operation can be carried out in under an hour using local anaesthetic.

About 9,000 people searched Google for 'hymenoplasty' and related terms in the UK last year, and charities said they believe hundreds of patients are undergoing the procedure every year in private clinics.

In November 2019 rapper TI revealed he took his 18-year-old daughter to the gynaecologist every year to “check her hymen” and make sure it’s “still intact”.

While the 39-year-old said he was aware the hymen can be broken through numerous activities, not just sexual penetration, he said he tells the doctor: “She don’t ride no horses, she don’t ride no bike, she don’t play no sports.

"Just check the hymen, please, and give me back my results expeditiously.”

TI was later criticised by several sexual health charities including Planned Parenthood, which tweeted: "Say it with us: YOU CAN’T TELL IF SOMEONE’S HAD SEX BY THE WAY THEIR HYMEN LOOKS OR FEELS.”