As it's expected for women in Tunisia to be virgins until when are married, young Tunisian women are now having hymen reconstruction surgery to avoid being sent back to their parents after the wedding.
According to BBC, young Tunisian women are
turning to hymenoplasty , a short procedure
that promises to reconstruct her virginity
surgically. The young women save and spend
as much as &400 for the procedure to prevent
future shame.
One woman who has decided to turn to science to regain her lost virginity is 28-year- old woman Yasmine. Yasmine lost her virginity while living abroad to one man but now is afraid her husband will find out she is not a virgin after they get married.
Though she has agreed to the surgery, she
considers this procedure a lie and one day the
husband might suspect or find out about the
sham.
"I consider this to be deception and I'm really
worried," says Jasmine whose wedding is in
two months.
BBC reporter Sihem Hassaini who accompanied Jasmine to the clinic for the procedure was shocked to discover a bunch of other women waiting for the 30-minute procedure to reconstruct their hymen.
Jasmine took months to save for the procedure while keeping every detail secret from her family.
According to Rashid, the doctor to carry out
the surgery on Jasmine, most of his young
patients are driven by the fear of bringing
shame to their family and relatives when
discovered they are not virgins.
The doctor said though many doctors refuse to do the surgery, he does it because he disagrees with those who make virginity a sort of sacred thing.
The annoyed doctor said he blamed the male-
dominated society that hides in some religious
principles.
"I mean it when I say its male dominance and
I'll continue to wage an all-out war against it,"
he says.
Tunisia is regarded as a leader in women's rights in North Africa but religion and tradition here dictate that young women have to remain virgins until they are married.
There is also a provision in Tunisian law for
divorce in cases where women are discovered
not to be virgins.
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