Just as there is outrage over this issue and FGM, there should be the same outcry over the practice of mutilation via circumcision of baby boys in the West. Is is not the same issue of conforming to a cultural norm?

>>Just as there is outrage over this issue and FGM, there should be the same outcry over the practice of mutilation via circumcision of baby boys in the West. Is is not the same issue of conforming to a cultural norm?<<

Seems to me the equivalent for men would be reconstructing the foreskin after circumcision. But does any culture value bringing an intact foreskin to a marriage?

If male circumcision prevented males from achieving orgasm, or routinely endangered the sexual, urinary, or general health of the male, or if malecircumcision didn't afford (albeit minor) protect against HIV and other infections, then we could compare the two procedures.

Re-hymen-ating seems relatively humane compared to female circumcision, which removes the clitoris and parts of the labia minora as well. For women living in a culture that demands an intact hymen for a "good" marriage, then surgery is a clever way to obey the spirit of that custom, and I say "good for you!" But, I am troubled by it nonetheless. Clearly this is a gesture to save face with a patriarchal dictate, changing one's body to please a man (though at bottom, isn't just about anything most women do to their bodies at least in part to please a man?), and no surgery is without risk. Since a hymen serves no health or medical function, it is an "unnecessary" risk to have it surgically installed.

Here's another idea: maybe if every single woman intentionally "broke" her hymen, there would be no "virgins" left, and so the practice of hymen-checking would be abandonned ....

Yeah, and slowly people are realizing that being cut isn't a terrific thing for boys. But this *is* different.

Cary just got a note in his column from a woman who had a lively time as a late-teen and is now older, wiser, and in the process of getting dumped by a potential mate because she's not a virgin.

Carol's column says that some of the motivation is a fear of family reprisal, of "honor killings".

How many guys get dumped or murdered because they're not virgins?

Carol's column points out that it's partly cultural, but to me, it's a statement of the role of women in modern (and, I suppose, medieval) society.

It almost makes me wonder if the driving point is a fear of women, a fear that the woman might know more in the wedding bed about sexual maturity than the frightened pencil-dick dweeb she married.

Sure, doctors getting rich off cultural clashes might be something to complain about, but that comes awfully close to blaming abortion doctors for getting rich off of promiscuity.

After all, these women made a choice to have sex, and then made a choice to alter their bodies because of yet another choice made to honor their traditional culture.

Sure, the case could be made that they have no choice about honoring their culture, but those making that case should be celebrating the fact that women can rig the system, right? Unless, of course, one is also making the case that humans should abolish all cultural attitudes toward sex that haven't been overhauled to conform with norms of the latter 20th century -- which might be a desirable, but is as likely as abolishing violence or greed.

Wait, where do you get the impression that the women undergoing this type of surgery aren't "practicing Muslims"? Does a woman have to remain in a harem, or forego an elite Western education to remain Muslim? Or is it simply unthinkable that a woman from a Muslim family/country who chooses/is allowed to study abroad could still remain true to her faith?

hymen replacement bad, vaginal rejuvenation bad, breast implants good, liposuction good, tattoos good, nose jobs good, facelifts, browlifts good

hymen reconstruction is NOT a cliterectomy, near as I can tell.

Why are feminists agaist hymen replacement and designer vaginas?

Didn't you folks reclaim the pussy with the Vagina monologues?

So why are you hating against hymen reconstruction and designers vagoos when all the other unnecessary cosmetic surgeries are okay?

Don't you believe women (and men) have a right to do what they want with their own bodies?

Are you hating against it because it's linked to a religion you dislike, a culture you dislike, or because it has to do with the temple of your goddesses the Vagoo?

So it's really not a Salon issue about oppressed Muslim women at all. But one evil patriarchy is as usefull as another, so, carry on.

I think the assumption being made is that since they're engaging in premarital sex, something that is forbidden for both males and females in Islam, it isn't too hard to believe that they are non practicing.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007200424,00.html

The Sun Online - News: Boob job thug jailed for kidnap

A THUG was jailed for 20 months yesterday — for kidnapping his wife to STOP her having her boobs enlarged.

James McCarthy, 27, told Kerry “Don’t do it” as he dragged her out of hospital where she was waiting for the op.

He claimed he had a knife and threatened to kill her, the Old Bailey was told. Kerry managed to escape and ran into an office where she collapsed.

Michael Gomulka, defending, said: “He went to talk her out of having the operation. When she refused he reacted in that way.”

Hospital worker Lola Ali told police: “He said to her, ‘I like you as you are. I will kill you now’.”

McCarthy was arrested near London’s St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Kerry, 27, who has since left him, decided not to have the op.

McCarthy, of Canning Town, East London, admitted kidnap. The court heard he has a history of violence to women and was jailed for punching his wife while she was pregnant in hospital.

Judge William Clegg QC told him: “You are a bully.”

I think the assumption being made is that since they're engaging in premarital sex, something that is forbidden for both males and females in Islam, it isn't too hard to believe that they are non practicing.

Because an unmarried person certainly couldn't be a practicing Catholic and go to church on Sunday after getting drunk and having sex (with a condom!) on Saturday. Never happens, I'm sure. People can't come up with ways to reconcile these little hypocrisies.

That these women weren't observant Muslims is a huge assumption here that shouldn't be made.

I figure if these Muslim women want to go back to their traditional society and need to get the hymen reconstruction surgery to stay out of trouble when they get home, that's maybe not a bad choice (especially compared to the hideous ways women who have shamed their families can be treated). Many of these same Western-educated women will then have the chance be moderating forces in the traditional Muslim world, something desperately needed. It's troubling all the way around, but then again, which parts of the relationship between the Islamic and Western worlds are not?