Hymen Restoration in Georgia Hymen Restoration (HR) is an operation that a significant number of women in Georgia (Caucasus) undergo by choice or encouraged by their families. Taking place in private clinics, it is a service for women who have been premaritally sexually active, to reconstruct them as virgins. Within the Georgian context, little research exists on the motivations of these women, or about the physical and emotional consequences of this practice. Georgian women continue to subscribe to particular models of femininity, which restrict their sexual lives in comparison with their male counterparts (Curro’, 2012). However a review of anthropological research suggests that HR may also reflect Georgian women’s active agency: they are often the main breadwinners of the family and highly visible public players (World Economic Forum, 2014). My goal is to contribute to anthropological explorations of virginity and related interventions such as FGM and genital cosmetic surgery. I will be using a medical anthropology approach, conducting fieldwork in an HR clinic as well as among local households. I hope that closer investigation of the relationship between medical practice, family and gender relations will enable data collection that will inform initiatives to address any issues of harm minimisation.