Armed with cosmetic solutions for new age women, plastic surgeons and gynaecologists across the country are recreating female virginity with a simple 40-minute surgery, a reconstruction of the delicate membrane, the hymen, which tears during sexual intercourse, if not earlier reports Subra Pritadarshini in Kolkata's Telegraph.

A small but increasing number of women are going in for hymenoplasty in cities in northern and western India. The list of takers is long- young upwardly mobile women between relationships, middle-aged women looking for sexual pleasure, rape victims wanting to undo the trauma, sex workers quitting the trade to marry or to gratify fussy clients, would-be-brides from West Asia afraid of honour killings and non-resident Indian women about to get married.

Doctors agree that those seeking hymenoplasty are mostly young women about to get married. But older women, many in their forties, have also approached doctors for the surgery. In Ahmedabad, which has seen an upswing in the number of referrals for hymenoplasty in recent years, Dr. Bijal Parikh was approached by a middle-aged woman from the United States wanting to ‘gift' her husband regained virginity on their 20th wedding anniversary.

While the surgery costs anywhere between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000, many doctors charge fees as high as Rs 75,000 to Rs 1 lakh. “It is a very simple surgery. But because of the secrecy involved, some surgeons charge women much more than the usual amount,” says Dr. Duru Shah, president of the Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecological Societies of India.

Not surprisingly, women activists believe that hymenoplasty only reinforces stereotypes on the importance of virginity. “Instead of educating women, showing them the light of reason, doctors are reinforcing the myth about virginity being equated to an intact hymen,” says Illa Pathak, who heads the Ahmedabad Women Action Group.

But doctors insist that there is nothing wrong with the practice which is already popular in the West. Some argue that it is an individual's right to feel good, and if a women is happy after hymenoplasty it is up to her to decide whether or not she wants it.

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