Cosmetic Surgery in the Muslim World: Muslim Women's Experiences of Virginity and Marriage (2010)

Undergraduate: Lubabatu Ahmad-Rufai

Faculty Advisor: Michele Berger
Department: Women's and Gender Studies

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My interest in cosmetic surgery performed on women in the Muslim World was prompted by references in recent cultural media in both Muslim countries and in Western media including films, television and the news. The key questions of this study are: What cosmetic surgeries are women in Muslim countries undergoing and why? What has been the response from Arab/Muslim feminists to these surgeries and how have their responses shaped the social discourse? The study employs a two-pronged research method that combines data from a single individual interview and two focus groups of all women or men with information from focused literature review. My major finding is that hymenoplasty or reconstruction of the hymen is the predominant cosmetic surgery undergone by women in Muslim countries. Hymenoplasty can effectively create the illusion of "virginity" due to fact that upon sexual penetration women would bleed on the marital bed sheets and therefore be able to prove their "virginity" to suspecting parents or in-laws. Hymenoplasty is highly related to interwoven cultural and religious prescriptions surrounding the necessity and expectation of female virginity before marriage. Two important conclusions are that both participants and the literature support the understanding that patriarchal traditional social expectations rather than religious prescriptions create the pressure for hymenoplasty contrary to Western feminist and social understanding. Secondly, Muslim feminists are creating a critical indigenous discourse challenging social practices including those medical procedures like hymenoplasty that are discriminatory against women and are part of an interwoven experience of inequality.