Much tadoo has been made recently about studies that suggest that circumcision of men decreases the risk of HIV transmission, but nothing is ever said about the role that the hymen plays in susceptibility to this debilitating and fatal disease.
The hymen is a tissue within the vagina which is a remnant from prenatal stages of development. It serves no known purpose in adults, however this membrane is susceptible to breakage during intercourse, particularly in the first sexual penetration. This can cause pain and bleeding.
If baby girl's hymen were cut shortly after birth with the use of local aesthetic similar to circumcision of boys, this would save her from the pain of breaking it later in life. Also, because bleeding is the single biggest risk factor in HIV transmission, its hard to imagine how this bleeding could do anything but increase contraction rates. Surprising unlike the circumcision of boys, hygienic hymen cutting's affect on HIV transmission has never been formally studied, and stranger still, hygienic hymen cutting of girls is illegal in some jurisdictions, even though its difficult to say how the procedure could adversely affect her quality of life in any manner.
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