For One Drop of Blood: Virginity, Sexual Norms and Medical Processes in Hymenoplasty Consultations in the Netherlands
General Material Designation
[Thesis]
First Statement of Responsibility
Sherria Ayuandini
Subsequent Statement of Responsibility
Bowen, John R.; Duyvendak, Jan Willem
.PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC
Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.
Washington University in St. Louis
Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.
2017
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item
267
GENERAL NOTES
Text of Note
Committee members: Hardon, Anita; Mol, Annemarie; Moors, Annelies; Parikh, Shanti; Stoner, Bradley; van den Berg, Marguerite
NOTES PERTAINING TO PUBLICATION, DISTRIBUTION, ETC.
Text of Note
Place of publication: United States, Ann Arbor; ISBN=978-0-355-15506-8
DISSERTATION (THESIS) NOTE
Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree
Ph.D.
Discipline of degree
Anthropology
Body granting the degree
Washington University in St. Louis
Text preceding or following the note
2017
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
Hymenoplasty is a medical procedure done to alter the shape of the hymen membrane. Dutch women of predominantly Muslim migrant ancestry resort to the surgery to maintain the appearance of premarital virginity. This dissertation research studies hymenoplasty as a social phenomenon. It asks: how do the interconnecting issues of gender, religion and migration play out during interactions between doctors and Dutch patients of migrant ancestry in the medical and institutional context of hymenoplasty in the Netherlands? Findings were collected from 2012 and 2015 through participant observations of 70 hymenoplasty consultations in medical establishments in the Netherlands. These observations were complemented with interviews with hymenoplasty providers and patients as well as with people of similar ancestry with the surgery seeking women. Written as a collection of journal articles, this dissertation addresses the issue of variability of treatment, demedicalization of the 'broken' hymen, patients' rhetoric of religion, national identity as medical recommendations, and women empowerment as topics of analysis. By closely paying attention to exchanges between hymenoplasty seeking women and medical professionals, this study posits that patients' identity markers shape the course of interactions between them and the doctors. Ultimately, differences between doctors and patients, including gender, religion and migration history, are not only brought to light during hymenoplasty consultations in medical institution, but they are also specifically addressed and treated as integral aspects of both patients' motivation for the operation as well as the cornerstones of their problems which, when dealt with, will lead to the surgery seeking women's 'salvation'.
TOPICAL NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Cultural anthropology
UNCONTROLLED SUBJECT TERMS
Subject Term
Social sciences;Hymenoplasty;Sexuality;The netherlands