Hymen repair surgery and virginity testing to be banned in UK
By Rajdeep Sandhu
Political reporter
Published2 days ago

英国将禁止处女膜修复手术和处女检查


The government is planning on banning a cosmetic surgery called hymenoplasty across the UK.
It attempts to recreate a woman's hymen, which in some cultures is lixed to virginity, and has been described as a form of honour-based abuse.
The procedure will be criminalised, as will virginity testing.
Minister for Care and Mental Health Gillian Keegan said the government was "committed to safeguarding vulnerable women and girls in this country".
Hymenoplasty is available in clinics and can cost up to £3,000.
The procedure recreates a thin membrane known as the hymen which partially covers the entrance to the vagina. It is often done as a way to "repair" a hymen.
But the World Health Organization (WHO) says "the appearance of a hymen is not a reliable indication of intercourse".

英国政府正计划禁止一种称为处女膜成形术的整容手术。
它试图重建女性的处女膜,在某些文化中,处女膜与童贞有关。它被描述为一种基于名誉的虐待。该做法将被定为刑事犯罪,童贞测试也是如此。
卫生大臣Gillian Keegan表示,政府“致力于保护这个国家的弱势妇女和女孩”。 处女膜成形术可在一般诊所进行,费用高达 3,000 英镑。
该手术重建了一种称为处女膜的薄膜,该薄膜部分覆盖了阴道的入口。 它通常是作为“修复”处女膜的一种方式。 但世界卫生组织(WHO)表示“处女膜的状态并非确定有无性行为的可靠迹象”。

A woman's hymen can tear for all sorts of reasons and not just through sexual intercourse, for instance through playing sports or using tampons.
The practice of hymenoplasty is lixed to conservative cultures which place a high value on virginity, with the expectation a virgin should bleed after sex on her wedding night.
The WHO says virginity testing is practised in at least 20 countries. It involves an intrusive vaginal examination to check if the hymen is intact.

女性的处女膜可能因各种原因撕裂,而不仅仅是通过性交,例如通过运动或使用卫生棉条。
处女膜成形术与高度重视童贞的保守文化有关,期望处女在新婚之夜做爱后会流血。
世界卫生组织表示,至少有 20 个国家允许进行童贞测试。 它涉及侵入性阴道检查以检查处女膜是否完整。

Aleena, whose name we have changed, said she was raped and then, as a teenager, faced years of pressure from her family to get the procedure.
"It wasn't something I felt like I had a choice over," she said. "It was always put on me as if this was the only option and this is something you can do to fit back in.
"I felt very, very alone. I felt guilty if I didn't do it, I felt it was a very big weight on my shoulders. I didn't feel like I had a choice."
Aleena said she refused to have the surgery but the pressure continued. In order to escape the situation she married someone who did not care that her hymen was not intact.
She said she is proud she had the courage to not go through with the procedure.
"I knew that I made the right choice and I knew everything that my parents were saying was only for pressure and their honour," she said.

Aleena,我们已经修改了她的名字,她说她被强奸了,然后,作为一个十几岁的孩子,她面临着家人多年的压力,要求她接受修补手术。
“这不是我觉得我可以选择的事情,”她说。 “它总是放在我身上,好像这是唯一的选择,这是你可以做的重新适应的事情。
“我感到非常非常孤独。如果我不这样做,我会感到内疚,我觉得这是我肩上的沉重负担。我觉得我别无选择。”
Aleena 说她拒绝接受手术,但压力仍在继续。 为了逃避这种情况,她嫁给了一个不在乎她的处女膜不完整的人。
她说她很自豪她有勇气拒绝了这个手术。
“我知道我做出了正确的选择,我知道我父母所说的一切都是为了压力和他们的荣誉,”她说。

The government promised at the end of last year to "introduce legislation to ban hymenoplasty at the earliest opportunity".
It has now included amendments in the health and care bill which would criminalise "aiding or abetting" a person carrying out hymenoplasty and could result in up to five years in prison. It would also be a criminal offence to take a girl or woman overseas to have the procedure.
Last year when the bill was in the House of Commons, the government amended it to ban virginity testing after calling the practise "indefensible". Campaigners say virginity testing and hymenoplasty are closely lixed.

政府在去年底承诺“尽早立法禁止处女膜成形术”。
它现在包括对健康和保健法案的修正,将“帮助或教唆”进行处女膜成形术的人定为犯罪,并可能导致长达五年的监禁。 将女孩或妇女带到海外进行手术也属于刑事犯罪。
去年,当该法案在下议院提交时,政府在称这种做法“不可接受”后对其进行了修改,禁止进行童贞测试。活动人士说,童贞测试和处女膜成形术密切相关。

Diana Nammi, executive director at Iranian & Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation, has campaigned for a ban and said: "Every woman and girl who faces this invasive surgery, it is under duress - direct or indirect - to present as a 'virgin' and in many cases, it is carried out to enable a forced marriage, organised by her family.
"Hymenoplasty causes trauma and in around half of cases, it fails to make the woman or girl bleed the next time she has intercourse, leaving her highly vulnerable to 'honour' based abuse or even 'honour' killing."
Halaleh Taheri is the founder of the Middle Eastern Women and Society Organisation charity. She said it will take time and education to stop the practice from happening and has been working with parents.
One of the women she has worked with is Golaleh Simili, who is Kurdish. Growing up in Iran she was brought up to believe in the purity of virginity and had to present a virginity certificate before her own wedding. She said she felt "humiliated".
She moved to the UK in 2017 but when she found out her daughter was not a virgin, she says she was very nervous and worried and they discussed the surgery. But after working with MEWso, she said she realised she should not impose the same injustice on her daughter.

伊朗和库尔德妇女权利组织的执行董事戴安娜·纳米(Diana Nammi)一直在争取禁令,并说:“每个面临这种侵入性手术的妇女和女孩,都受到直接或间接的胁迫,以‘处女’的身份出现在在许多情况下,这是为了促成由她的家人组织的强迫婚姻。
“处女膜成形术会造成创伤,在大约一半的情况下,它无法让女性或女孩在下次性交时流血,使她极易受到基于‘名誉’的虐待甚至‘名誉’杀害。”
Halaleh Taheri 是中东妇女与社会组织慈善机构的创始人。她说,阻止这种做法的发生需要时间和教育,并一直在与父母合作。
与她共事的女性之一是库尔德人 Goraleh Simili。她在伊朗长大,从小就相信童贞的纯洁,并且必须在自己的婚礼前出示童贞证明。她说她感到“羞辱”。
她于 2017 年移居英国,但当她发现女儿不是处女时,她说她非常紧张和担心,他们讨论了手术。但在与 MEWso 合作后,她说她意识到自己不应该对女儿施加同样的不公正待遇。

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Indira Varma works for a helpline run by charity Karma Nirvana. She said it can take months for woman and girls who call the helpline to admit to having hymen repair surgery. She says the procedure is often described as is being "cut", "fixed' or "sewn up".
While the majority of procedures are thought to be done in clinics, there is anecdotal evidence of some getting the procedure done at home.
She said: "Victims described community elders coming into the home or doctors would make home visits to patients and they would charge an obscene amount of money for it. This is usually to avoid having to take the victim out to minimalize [the risk of] the victim asking for help or running away."
She said it was "an underground but thriving industry" but one that "deepened the cycle of abuse for victims".
But Dr Dheeraj Bhar, a cosmetic surgeon who runs a privative clinic in Harley Street London, disagrees with the ban. He says he has never done a virginity test and does not agree with them, but does perform hymenoplasty. On average, he says it can cost between £3,000-£4,000 and takes up to 45 minutes.
By banning the procedure he worries women and girls could be put at further risk, instead he says it should be regulated.
He said: "When you ban something like a medical procedure you drive patients underground. They will start to go to back alley doctors, or fly in doctors who fly from other countries to perform these procedures.
"I think the bigger issue here is if you don't know these procedures are being done you can't then monitor the complications and follow ups."
Many of the women who come to him are pressured by family or society but are not being forced into it, he said.
"It's just that they want to be accepted by their society and in order to be accepted by their own individual societies this is one of the pillars and tenets they have to follow though they do so," he added.
He says he has refused patients where he has felt they were being pressured by family members.
Ms Keegan said the government would continue to work with local communities and organisations "to tackle the taboos and damaging preconceptions associated with virginity and a women's worth".

Indira Varma 在慈善机构 Karma Nirvana 运营的帮助热线工作。她说,拨打热线电话的女性和女孩可能需要几个月的时间才能承认接受了处女膜修复手术。她说,该手术通常被描述为“切割”、“固定”或“缝合”。
虽然大多数手术被认为是在诊所完成的,但有其他证据表明有些手术是在家里完成的。
她说:“受害者描述社区的长者或医生会进入家中对患者进行家访,他们会为此收取一笔可观的费用。这通常是为了避免将受害者带出去以尽量减少受害者寻求帮或逃跑的风险。”
她说这是“一个地下但蓬勃发展的行业”,但却“加深了受害者的循环受虐”。
但在伦敦哈利街经营一家私人诊所的整容外科医生 Dheeraj Bhar 博士不同意这项禁令。他说他从未做过童贞测试,也不同意他们的观点,但确实进行了处女膜成形术。他说,平均而言,它的成本在 3,000 至 4,000 英镑之间,最多需要 45 分钟。
禁止该手术后,他担心妇女和女孩可能会面临更大的风险,相反他说应该对其进行监管。
他说:“当你禁止像医疗手术之类的事情时,你会把病人赶到黑市上。他们将开始去找巷子里的非法医生,或者让从其他国家飞来的医生执行这些手续。
“我认为这里更大的问题是,如果你不知道这些手术正在完成,你就无法监控和跟进并发症。”
他说,许多来找他的女性确实受到了家庭或社会的压力,但并没有被迫加入。
“只是他们希望被他们的社会所接受,为了被他们自己的个人社会所接受,这是他们必须遵循的支柱和原则之一,”他补充说。
他说他拒绝了那些他觉得他们受到家庭成员压力的病人。
基根女士表示,政府将继续与当地社区和组织合作,“解决与童贞和女性价值相关的禁忌和破坏性先入之见”。