More women in Guangdong choose hymen reconstruction surgery
Staff Reporter 2013-01-23 10:40
An ad for hymen reconstruction surgery. (Internet photo)
Several hospitals in Dongguan in China's southern province of Guangdong have said the number of women seeking hymen reconstruction surgery before the Chinese New Year holiday has tripled, as many of them try to boost their chances of finding a husband, the Guangzhou-based Yangcheng Evening News reports.
"[We usually have] one surgery a day, but the number has reached three or four on some days recently," said Mei Xiaoxia, a plastic surgeon at Southern Medical University's Renkang Hospital.
Several hospitals in the city also reported a similar situation, with one of them noting that the age of most of the women undergoing the procedure was between 26 and 32 years.
Advertisements for hymen reconstruction surgery can be easily spotted in Dongguan, including one for Keyuan Hospital, which is offering the procedure for 880 yuan (US$140).
Mei said many of the women were requesting the procedure to improve their chances of getting married after the Chinese New Year vacation in mid-February, a time in which it has become customary for parents to arrange blind dates for their unmarried offspring while they are home for the holidays.
Renkang Hospital added that it could also issue a document confirming the woman as a virgin, with many women asking for the document post surgery.
Female virginity is a prized trait in traditional Chinese culture. In many conservative areas of the country, women have to bank on their reputation to secure a husband, often through arrangements made between families.
Ding Yu, who teaches at Sun Yat-Sen University's Department of Sociology and Social Work in Guangzhou, said women who have become sexually active as adults are resorting to the procedure because of the social pressures imposed on them.
Wang Hongcai, a doctor at Renkang Hospital, said the women's actions might seem deceptive but it boils down to a small white lie for their future husbands.
Several men told the newspaper that they do not care if a woman is a virgin if they just looking for a girlfriend but do hope to marry someone who has kept her virginity, revealing a familiar double standard.
One woman said she decided to have the surgery because she is set to meet several men from her age group at home during the upcoming holiday and people in her hometown still subscribe to relatively conservative values concerning sex.
Another woman also shared her experience with the newspaper about losing contact with a few men she had dated because they realized that she is not a virgin.
However, Ding said society has become more open and that such procedures are unlikely to improve anyone's chances of getting married.
