When I first started writing about ‘virginity testing’ and hymenoplasty, many people simply didn’t believe me. Sewing stitches in a woman’s vagina so that she bleeds on her wedding night – how could something so inhumane take place in modern-day Europe?
Not being able to ‘prove’ their virginity is a fear for millions of women and girls across the world, including in Europe. Having followed the debate here in Europe and read recent comprehensive studies on the subject, I have found that fighting the myth of virginity is an extremely difficult and complex process.
But criminalising virginity testing and hymen repair surgery is not necessarily the answer. Banning such practices in a country that is not fully prepared might create more problems than solutions for the women that these laws are intended to protect.
