“My virginity was restored in a delicate operation just last week, and I honestly view it as life-saving surgery,” says Aisha. “If my husband cannot prove to his family that I am a virgin, I would be hounded, ostracised and sent home in disgrace. My father, who is a devout Muslim, would regard it as the ultimate shame.
Isabelle Levy, an author who studied the issue for her book Religion in the Hospital, said young Muslim girls are “modern and they have adventures like other Europeans – which never happened in the past.
Sitting in a cafe near the Champs Elysees, the 26-year-old French-born woman of Algerian descent looks like any other Parisian. But two months ago, she did something none of her friends have done. She had her hymen re-sewn, technically making her a virgin again.