Honour-related threats and human rights: A qualitative study of Swedish healthcare providers’ attitudes towards young women requesting a virginity certificate or hymen reconstruction

Abstract

Objectives To investigate the preferred actions of healthcare staff, as well as their reasoning and attitudes about young females’ requests for a virginity certificate or hymen restoration.

Method A qualitative study, consisting of semi-structured interviews of healthcare providers from different parts of Sweden and from different medical specialties and professions, who had experience of women who asked for a virginity certificate or a hymen repair.

Results Using content analysis, ten themes emerged regarding healthcare personnel's attitudes and reasoning about young female patients and their requests for demonstration of virginity. The themes logically were categorised as values, beliefs, and cultural affiliation.

Conclusions Responders had a more pragmatic and permissive view than the restrictive, official Swedish policy opposing hymenoplasties within the public healthcare system. There were degrees of willingness to accommodate such requests, due, for example, to different moral beliefs and medical concerns. Responders expressed frustration over the difficulty of following up patients, a situation likely due to the restrictive policy. The patient-centred approach adopted by a Dutch team of health professionals would probably better enable quality assurance.

KEYWORDS:

• Attitude
• Culture
• Honour
• Human rights
• Hymen
• Hymen reconstruction
• Values
• Virginity
• Qualitative study

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Financial support from the Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority is gratefully acknowledged.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.