She is one among the many Tunisian women flocking to clinics or are busy fixing an appointment with a surgeon, who promises to fix her virginity surgically!

Such is the state (read farce) in Tunisia, an Islamic regime, regarded as a leader in women rights in North Africa.

Hypocritical norms and male chauvinism have forced these 20-something women into queuing up outside these clinics, who deep inside their hearts know that once the word is out, their respective family and would be spouse would get rid of them, a burden too heavy for these maidens.

The loss of one's virginity before marriage is not a big thing, but walk into lands whose norms dictate you to marry a virgin and things slowly snowballs, making it a much bigger issue that it actually is supposed to be.

"When in Rome..." we are all familiar with this adage, these women are sticking to just that, saving money, concealing the fact from their families, looking for a secret rendezvous with the doc, in the hope that things will pan out just fine.

But there's no surety...one day or the other, the cat will be out of the bag, spilling the dirty linen in public on its way.

"I might one day inadvertently betray myself in a conversation with my husband," says one of the many girls to BBC who's giving hymenoplasty a try.

The other factor that adds to their plight is the lack of doctors...or the lack of will (read spine) from these doctors.

"Gynaecologists do hymen repair. This is nothing exceptional," says a doctor who's about to undertake two operations in a space of a week.

"But here some doctors refuse to do it. I personally do it because I disagree with those who make virginity a sort of sacred thing," the doctor adds.

The good doctor states that it annoys him to see others refuse to take up such a case but vows to fight the system and male dominance.

""It really annoys me. This is a manifestation of a male-dominated society covered up in some religious principles. I mean it when I say it's male dominance and I'll continue to wage an all-out war against it," he says.

Tunisia is so open as a society that it has a separate law that actually allows a man to divorce his wife if the latter is deemed a non-virgin!

Slamming the prevailing myopia, sociologist Samia Elloumi tells BBC: "There is a sort of predominant social conservatism which is hard to justify because we claim to live in a modern society. But there's not much modernity when it comes to women's sexuality and freedom.."

And what does a budding male scholar says? Judging by the (sky-high) standard it has, he says that he'll consider it a cheating and will not trust his partner again if he finds out she's lost her virginity before marriage.

(Writing by Sudipto Maity)

image: deviantart.net