This week Yle's MOT programme reported on some immigrant parents in Finland taking their kids on "disciplinary trips" to their home countries — often with the idea to "de-westernise" them.
The show heard from "Lilian," who said her Iraqi parents took her to the doctor in Finland when she was 13 years old to test her virginity. An alias was used to protect her true identity.
In some Middle Eastern and Asian cultures, an "intact" hymen is tied to a woman's honour and can be considered a condition for marriage. If there is no blood stain on the sheets after the wedding night, the bride and her family may face problems.
The hymen, a piece of extra tissue, is not a physical marker of virginity, though such beliefs still persist. Not all women bleed when they have sex for the first time. Sports activities and tampon use can also tear the hymen.
As Lilian's experience dates back many years, MOT decided to find out if medical clinics were still carrying out virginity examinations or repair surgeries on children.
MOT learned that several clinics in Finland offer hymenoplasty, a form of female genital cosmetic surgery. These providers advertise their services on their sites.
Siluetti in Helsinki offers the procedure for 4,680 euros, while Estetiikka Mansurow in Turku advertises a list price of 3,112 euros.
Finnish law does not prohibit virginity exams or hymenoplasty.
A quick call to the clinics revealed that some are willing to perform these procedures on minors.
One of the clinics said minors would need to book the appointment themselves while another said parental consent was required.
"Patients who inquire about these procedures are typically getting married. The procedure itself isn't particularly difficult, it's just a few stitches. However, there are certainly many ethical considerations, such as whether this is a positive or negative thing for the woman," said Siluetti's managing director, Timo Pakkanen.
He also said he didn't see a problem with the procedure if it helped women enter into the marriage they wanted, emphasising that a doctor's mission is always to work in a patient's best interest. Pakkanen noted that the person answering the phone at his clinic was not aware that hymenoplasties are not performed on minors.
Estetiikka Mansurow did not respond to Yle's request for an interview.
Reacting to MOT's investigation, the Finnish Medical Association (FMA) highlighted that there was no medical reason for the virginity exams and surgeries.
"These procedures are not medical whatsoever. I see no justification for them at all, and they never genuinely stem from the patients themselves," said FMA head Janne Aaltonen.
The United Kingdom has outlawed both "virginity testing" and "virginity repair" while Sweden is also proposing a ban on the practices, which proponents say are an extension of honour violence aiming to control women and girls.
Lilian, featured in MOT's documentary, said she wishes the doctor who examined her genitals had reported her to child services, as an official intervention like that could have saved her a lot of subsequent problems.
Shortly after her virginity was tested, her parents flew her to Iraq where she was married off to a much older cousin. She was only able to return to Finland much later, when pregnant at 16.
The United Nations as well as the World Health Organization have called on countries to ban virginity testing, saying it's a "traumatic practice that constitutes violence against women."