A picture of the artificial hymen Photograph: Mohamed Al Rahhal

“Mohamed Al Rahhal,” the pseudonym of a blogger for the Guardian who lives in Egypt, writes of the furor caused in that country around the topic of… an artificial hymen:

Recently, news of a $15 Chinese-made artificial hymen sent ripples across the Egyptian media and blogosphere. China has been manufacturing this very same product for years, but it was an advertisement for a Chinese company offering shipping into the Middle East that started the discussion here in Cairo.

Conservative MPs took the debate into parliament, requesting a ban on imports of the product ?