Thursday, December 15, 2005
What does the Red State Moron Think of this??
Cosmetic surgery "below the equator", via the Wall Street Journal:Virgin Territory: U.S. Women Seek A Second First Time
So Dr. Wigton, something to think about if you give up high-risk OB. |
Cosmetic surgery "below the equator", via the Wall Street Journal:Virgin Territory: U.S. Women Seek A Second First Time
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.Beats a pair of socks, I guess. This procedure has led to some unusual promotions:
"It's the ultimate gift for the man who has everything," says Ms. Yarborough, 40 years old, a medical assistant from San Antonio
"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.Some have procedures performed to improve their sex lives:
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.Hymenoplasty carries little risk, except prehaps to one's wallet:
The modern version of hymenoplasty requires a local anesthetic and no hospitalization. A doctor uses dissolvable stitches to reconnect the skin membrane that once partially covered the opening to the vagina. Intercourse will tear the membrane causing pain and bleeding.With insurance reimbursement drying up, gynecologists are expanding their "cash only" trade.
Recovery from surgery takes about six weeks. The risk of fever and infection is low, says V. Leroy Young, a St. Louis plastic surgeon who also heads the American Society of Plastic Surgeons' emerging-trends task force.
On the other hand, Dr. Young says, "it's a pretty expensive thing to do for one night."
Troy Robbin Hailparn, an obstetrician and gynecologist, advertises vaginal cosmetic surgery on 23 billboards around San Antonio. Edward Jacobson, a Greenwich, Conn., OB-GYN, offers vaginal-makeover packages for international patients that include airfare, limousine travel and hotel accommodation. Dr. Jacobson says he has advertised in Glamour, Harper's Bazaar and Allure magazines. Last year, David Matlock, an OB-GYN in Los Angeles, discussed his "Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation" practice on "Dr. 90210," a reality show on the E! cable network.Who's not happy? The OB/GYN establishment:
The ethics committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, concerned about the marketing of revirgination, sent a letter to several cosmetic gynecologists in June 2004 voicing its unease. The college, which hasn't taken a formal position on the matter, said it worried that doctors may not be able to fully inform their patients about the procedure because it doesn't appear in the medical literature."Feminists":
Thomas G. Stovall, a recent president of the Society of Gynecologic Surgeons, a top professional body, says "hymen repair is a totally bogus procedure." In general, he says, surgery marketed to improve one's sex life rarely works. As for hymen replacement, "most importantly, it doesn't make you a virgin again."
A 26-year-old Latin American woman who lives in New York's Queens had a hymen repair in 2001 and says it took almost two months for her to feel comfortable again. It took even longer for her to enjoy sex.And religious folk:
The married mother of two says she's glad she had the surgery nonetheless. She says her husband wanted to experience intercourse with a virgin. "If a woman isn't a virgin when she gets married, a man can always put her down for that," says the woman, who does part-time clerical work for Ms. Vanegas's Ridgewood clinic.
Such attitudes irk feminists, who say hymen repair is a manifestation of bigger social pressures that keep women subservient to men. "It comes with a whole set of norms of a macho culture," says Silvana Paternostro, Colombian-born author of "In the Land of God and Man: Confronting Our Sexual Culture."
Devout Roman Catholics prize virginity because sex before marriage is a sin. Hymen replacement is "misleading and misguided," says Kathleen Raviele, vice president of the Catholic Medical Association in Needham, Mass., and a gynecologist. "The best thing is to remain chaste until marriage and then have that genuine experience on your wedding night."Whatever floats your boat, I guess. I agree with Dr. Young's opinion about it being an awfully expensive "one night stand".
For many Muslims, sexual purity is a way of maintaining the sanctity of the family. But Islamic law also prohibits lying and frivolous cosmetic surgery, says Uzma Mazhar, a St. Louis psychotherapist known for her Web site, CrescentLife.com, which provides Islamic perspectives on Western issues.
"What people forget is that Islam teaches us to be honest and fair," Ms. Mazhar says. "A family should think about this before they present a woman as a virgin when she's not."
So Dr. Wigton, something to think about if you give up high-risk OB. |
