Virginity repairs on the NHS....

[smudge]

Amazing that the NHS can find the money for virginity repair operations, when others who are genuinly in pain, have to wait so long for the treatment or medication they need & in some cases never get!

I sympathise & fully understand the need for virginity repairs for girls/women who have been raped, but not just to please future husbands & their raelatives. The whole idea is crazy, as is female circumcision, but that's another story!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/a rticle.html?in_article_id=494356&in_page_id=18 79

Yes, I know it's in the Daily Mail, but before you jump in, it was also on the news & on the radio.

[smudge]

P.S. This story if written by a Muslim women who is also against virginity repairs, so if you're interested it's worth a read.....

[123everton]

You're either a virgin or you're not, and I don't think female circuncision is available on the N.H.S or for that matter legal in this country.
I agree hymen repair should not be available on the N.H.S regardless of the circumstances (the koran states that a woman who's been raped did not consent and so is "technically" still a virgin) the problem here is liberal militancy that allows these abhorrent viewpoints on a womans' worth to go unchallenged.
We all have to suffer the price of their cowardice, ethnic minority women especially!

[smudge]

*relatives!

P.P.S. By all means let them go ahead just to please their future husbands, etc., but not at our expense!

[jake-the-peg]

They've averaged one operation a month over the entire country - I don't think you can use this to explain supposed long waiting lists!

[smudge]

Hi everton - I didn't say female circumcision was legal or avaiiable on the NHS in this country, I said that operation was a crazy idea too.

However, if you read the first paragraph of that story it reads that 24 women have already had virginity repairs on the already hard-pressed NHS.

[smudge]

I do realise that jake, but the whole idea of this operation being carried out on the NHS is ridiculous - full stop. If these peopel can flit back & forth between counties to marry their so called perfect husbands, why can't they pay for the operation privately?

[Pippa68]

Are they actually having 'virginity repairs' or just tightening operations?

I imagine there is a difference between the two procedures?

[smudge]

*countries, not counties

[jake-the-peg]

Yes but you made the connection between NHS resources and these operations.

That's clearly ridiculous and you've detracted from your argument ( Which I assume is one about principal) by making the clearly false implication that these are a significant drain on the NHS.

So putting that to one side - I notice there's no detail of whether these were the result of rapes or sexual assaults

Would you oppose it if this were the case? I mean the issue of these operations as a result of rapes to promote healing was buried way down the Mail's article where most people wouldn't bother reading (rather typically I fear)

[123everton]

They are virginity repairs, and smudge I pretty much agree with everything you're trying to say, but to my mind this has nothing to do with money or the ability to pay for the proceedure. It's about whether we in this country are going to allow women of whatever creed to be denigrated in this manner.

[123everton]

Jake the notion that you can help a rape victim by stitching her vagina up is facile. The only reason these proceedures are carried out is so that they can find(?) husbands the article makes that very clear. If you're a victim of rape see a rape counsellor, the N.H.S has no place in this bizarre form of social engineering, not one penny should be spent on it.

[smudge]

No, it's not a tightening procedure Pippa, they repair the hymen, so that when they have sex for the 'first' time, it will appear that they are virgins - when indeed they're not. A para' from the story, on why these women feel the need to have it done:

You can see why those who have strayed sexually might be desperate to restore their virginity, especially with so many young British Muslim women being sent abroad to enter into arranged marriages in parts of the world where their new in-laws will still expect to fly a blood-spotted sheet from the window of the wedding-night bedroom.

So hypocritical when their so called 'perfect' future husbands can get up to all sorts before marriage & get away with it!

[Pippa68]

I can understand the distinction now ~ thank you smudge.

I have never understood why virginity is shown by a blood stained sheet.

Sorry for the 'too much info' but I never bled when I lost my virginity..it isn't like that for everybody. And your hymen can break from doing lots of activities ~ horse riding, for example.

[jake-the-peg]

Your an expert on this are you everton.

And smudge I think that what you've just quoted is nothing more than the opinion of a journalist.

Actually that's my main problem with this story - it's entirely one sided - there's no response from the NHS, no contextual information so you can examine pro's and cons.

It's just another "cornflake spitter" designed (somewhat sucessfully it seems) to get lots of people angry rather than to get people thinking.

They want you too look at the world in balck and white and you're obliging

[bednobs]

24 people seem a small amount to me. In that quote you gave it implied that the 24 who have had it done had it done for that reason, whereas that might not be true at all. The local nhs priorities committees decide on what sort of operations or treatments will be available to people, and if it is a low priority then people can appeal. This is a lengthy procedure, and the commitee has the benefit of the FULL facts, whereas clearly we do not

[123everton]

I feel I know enough to say that physical operations don't heal mental scars.

[smudge]

Of course it's not just about money & being a strain on the NHS, but that is a very important issue. There are of course ethical reaons & I'd hate to think that it may be the start of things to come here!

As I say, along with female circumcision, unnecessary virginity repairs shouldn't be practised in this country - as this Muslim woman has also expressed. There are many like her out there, but they are too afraid to speak up for themselves - very sad indeed!

[smudge]

You're welcome Pippa.

I know, it's a silly idea to have to prove to anyone whether or not you're a virgin when you marry! As you say you can lose it by horse riding & lots of other sports, etc., & what happens if you wish to use a tampon before marriage - would you have to ask permission - where does it end?!

[naomi24]

Whether it's one or a thousand, operations like this shouldn't be carried out on the NHS. The resources and time spent, no matter how little, should go where they're really needed - to sick people. This is non-essential cosmetic surgery - although a Muslim father might see it differently if he's trying to marry his daughter off.