Eeeuw! Eeeuw! Eeeuw!
Guess who's getting "revirginized"? Amy Chozick writes in The Wall Street Journal:
For her 17th wedding anniversary, Jeanette Yarborough wanted to do something special for her husband. In addition to planning a hotel getaway for the weekend, Ms. Yarborough paid a surgeon $5,000 to reattach her hymen, making her appear to be a virgin again."It's the ultimate gift for the man who has everything," says Ms. Yarborough, 40 years old, a medical assistant from San Antonio.
Hymenoplasty, a controversial medical procedure known mostly for its prevalence in the Middle East and Latin America, is becoming popular in the U.S. Although there are no hard data, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons says vaginal surgery, including hymenoplasty, is one of the industry's fastest-growing segments. Gynecologists are marketing hymenoplasty in magazines, local newspapers and online. They report business is booming.
Restoring innocence this way has sparked criticism. Religious groups that value abstinence until marriage say hymen repair is a deception. Some feminists liken hymenoplasty to female genital mutilation. In addition, hymen repair, unlike other types of reconstructive surgery, isn't taught in medical residencies. Some medical associations worry that surgeons might be improperly trained.
"Revirgination" costs as little as $1,800 at Ridgewood Health and Beauty Center, a spa and cosmetic-surgery center in the New York City borough of Queens. To promote the procedure, the center's owner, Cuban-born Esmeralda Vanegas, has given away hymenoplasties on a Spanish-language radio station. She also promotes them in her eponymous magazine, Esmeralda.
Ms. Vanegas isn't a doctor and doesn't perform the procedure. Instead, she leases space to five plastic surgeons. Luis Palma, a doctor at Ridgewood, went to medical school in his native Argentina and was a resident at the Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Mass., among other places. Dr. Palma says he performs about five hymen repairs a month at Ridgewood, almost double the number of five years ago.
Ms. Vanegas says many of her patients risk disgracing their families if they're not virgins on their wedding night. Many are Latin American immigrants. "Losing your virginity is like losing a member of your family," Ms. Vanegas says. "We can make it seem like nothing ever happened."
Marco Pelosi II, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Bayonne, N.J., has been performing hymen repair since 1975 but started marketing the procedure only a year and a half ago. He now performs up to 10 repairs a month, compared with just two annually a decade ago.
"No one used to talk about it, but that's changing," Dr. Pelosi says. "Really, it's not like a heart transplant -- it's like a very simple procedure."
Dr. Pelosi says an increasing number of patients are trying to "improve their sex lives" by combining hymen repair with an operation to tighten their vaginas. He says one patient did it to surprise her husband on a second-honeymoon cruise. Another patient, a 51-year-old Manhattan attorney and mother of three, had him reattach her hymen and tighten her vaginal walls in 2003. "I thought it would add that extra sparkle to our marriage," says the woman.
These ladies are way-too-concerned with the wrong flaps of skin. Really wanna add sparkle to your marriage? Lose 20 pounds and rediscover blow jobs.
I especially liked the part where it appeals to those who lost their virginity but want to avoid disgracing their families, so they have the hymen repaired. Evidently, not being lily white for your wedding night is some kind of smirch to your family's good name. One wonders how she'll explain the STD her husband contracts if she happens to have one. "The cold sores? Oh, that's just an allergy. Nope I'm pure as the driven snow. Do me now and see for yourself."
Patrick at December 17, 2005 8:23 AM
As a man I agree- ewwwwwww! Blech!
She should have put the five grand towards a plasma TV. Her husband could enjoy that more than once.
eric at December 17, 2005 8:26 AM
On an enjoyment level, a question for all of you who have penises: There isn't some grand ecstasy, sensation-wise, at breaking the hymen, is there? I always thought virginity had too big of a deal made of it.
Amy Alkon at December 17, 2005 8:58 AM
There isn't some grand ecstasy, sensation-wise, at breaking the hymen, is there?
Au contraire, it's tricky, and she generally finds it painful which is the absolute converse of ecstasy. Worst of all, she expects you to call her the next day.
Stu "El Inglés" Harris at December 17, 2005 9:07 AM
I grew up in Southern California- I never actually met a virgin. By the time I was in the game they were all taken!
The girl who was my best friend from 7th through 11th grade seemed like a virgin, until two years ago she told me she had been with damn near every guy in Orange County except me. Her older sister who I always wanted to do now weighs about 400 pounds. (To answer your question, Amy, I don't think I missed much.)
eric at December 17, 2005 9:21 AM
PS- Classmates.com can really be an eye-opener!
eric at December 17, 2005 9:23 AM
"Worst of all, she expects you to call her the next day."
*SNOOORRRRRKKKK!!!!* :-)
Men who fancy virgins just want someone who doesn't know any better and can't compare him to anyone else.
As to those cultures who see the loss of virginity as a stain on the family name, I think it's funny that the women have found a way to fool those sexist pinheads. Those cultures never seem to think it's important for the MEN to be virgins, too - it's extremely sexist and an annoying double standard. But it does beg the question, why do the women care about impressing them in the first place, let alone marrying them? Why not go for a nice guy from America or Great Britain who doesn't have such a sexist attitude? If you've got the money for a hymen replacement, seems like you could afford a plane ticket easily enough.
Pirate Jo at December 17, 2005 10:56 AM
Virgin-seekers creep me out. What kind of guy prefers inexperience over experience? Some guy with some weird religious or personal shit going on, that's who. Ick.
Amy Alkon at December 17, 2005 11:15 AM
I think it was the Discovery Channel that had some sex expert (Dr. Drew?) that did a whole show on vaginoplasty. They profiled two women. One wasn't a virgin before marriage and wanted the hymenoplasty so she could give her "virginity" to her husband.
The other was a mother of three that didn't like the appearance of her vagina after all those kids and wanted it tightened up and the lips of her labia modified.
In both cases (like boob jobs) it was the women that insisted on it. The men seemed indifferent to the idea but supportive of their wive's wishes. The second husband did say that although he was very happy with their sex life before the operation, he wasn't aware of how loose his wife's vagina had become over the years and enjoyed the tightness.
I think the whole trend of hymenoplasty started with the asian sex trade. Johns usually paid a premium to have sex with a virgin. I'm not sure how the idea of vaginoplasty made it to women in the United States. I guess women in the old days didn't have much to compare themselves to.
nash at December 17, 2005 11:57 AM
Although I can see big self-esteem issues in the case of plastic surgeries, the only thing from a lady I want undivided is her attention. The bigger issue for me is physical fitness; you know, I'm programmed to admire Kournikova's non-wiggly though fantastically fit bits more than some airhead's surgery.
(Ditto on the plasma TV. Count the money - that's five thousand dollars a second gone!) This puts a whole new wrinkle on the saying, "One way or another, you're paying for it!"
Radwaste at December 17, 2005 4:39 PM
I have a friend from Brooklyn who wanted to be a model; her mom nixed that, saying, "Models are whores. You're not gonna be one of those." To console her, a few months later, her dad agreed to take her down to the plastic surgeon to see about getting her nose done. It was a bit larger than she thought it should be.
Well, she hadn't realized that surgery meant being cut, and possibly having your nose broken to mold it into a new shape. When she walked into the waiting room with her dad, there were people there with big bandages on their faces; some had black eyes - nobody was smiling. Then, to her dismay, a fellow obviously part-way through sex-change surgery comes out of the back office, looking like a train-wreck survivor rebuilt with parts Igor picked up late at night somewhere dank. "Daddy, get me out of here!"
Nearly 30 years later, she's beautiful and "unrestored". Her husband agrees with me, of course, as we chuckle at her old story.
Radwaste at December 17, 2005 5:01 PM
What Raddy said.
Also, didja see the movie star Christmas card from the future? Take a good look at Angelina.
http://www.defamer.com/hollywood/brad-pitt/merry-christmas-from-the-pitts-143615.php
We see lots of women with that clown-lipped / burn-victim look in Los Angeles, and it ain't pretty.
Crid at December 17, 2005 5:54 PM
As a representative of the bepenised -- no, there's nothing quantitatively pleasurable about deflowering virgin she-folk. But then I also think blowjobs are overrated, which is clearly a minority opinion.
Paul Hrissikopoulos at December 17, 2005 8:15 PM
Just askin'...
If a wife's vagina is "too loose" after having children, why not try anal sex?
Like I said: just askin'.
Deirdre B. at December 17, 2005 9:51 PM
Blowjobs overrated? Blasphemer!
Ladies- there is an art form to handjobs as well....
eric at December 18, 2005 8:09 AM
I'm with Amy in that this fetishization of virginity is a cultural sickness. What sane woman would want to go through again? gah. And for some of us "virginity" does not equal "intact hymen." In my case, I suspect the culprit may have been years of horseback riding and those first few clumsy efforts at tampon insertion.
deja pseu at December 18, 2005 8:37 AM
> Like I said: just askin'.
It's this kind of outside-the-box thinking by her dedicated commenting squadron that makes Amy the envy of bloggers up and down the coast.
As long as we're talking about the inane gestures of betrothal, this came up on overheardinnewyork.com today:
Girl #1: So I said I'm not sure if I'm gonna take his last name; it seems really old-fashioned.
Girl #2: What'd he say?
Girl #1: He said an engagement ring is old-fashioned, but I took that.
--Rockefeller Center
Crid at December 18, 2005 2:33 PM
Like I've always said, unless you're a prostitute, if a guy has to buy you a ring...how come you don't have to buy him a boat?
Amy Alkon at December 18, 2005 3:13 PM
Hang out on some religious-right-type sites, and you'll find the virgin fetishizers. To me, it's pretty simple: A woman's parenthood is as obvious as the bump on her belly. A man has to take the woman's word for it. Hence, a premium on virginity. And the chastity belt, among other things.
Nance at December 19, 2005 8:16 AM
I suspect I am in a very small minority: I practiced abstinence for a long period and my hymen evidently grew back. The guy who broke version 2.0 was stunned, although not as much as I was.
As for the aesthetics: very displeasing. Messy and painful. I can't believe anyone would pay for that.
That Julia at December 19, 2005 9:20 AM
My first time wasn't a virgin and neither were the last, let's say more than a few hundred times since then. Apparently I haven't missed much.
And yes, anal sex is some sweet stuff. Nice and tight.
Mack Simmons at December 20, 2005 3:08 PM
A restored hymen sure as hell doesn't mean a restoration of ionnocence.
pacman at March 26, 2006 6:50 PM
Thank you for pointing that out pacman. The restoration of your hymen is just that, it's NOT the restoration of innocence and sexual inexperience. It's not something that should be lied about unless the person in question is being threatened by "Honor Murder" as they do in some cultures.
Future_M.D. at February 27, 2007 9:57 PM
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