The Indian Textbook of Forensic Medicine uses the term deflorate — a plant that’s lost its flowers — to describe a woman who is not “a virgin”. Theatre practitioner, playwright and director Ayesha Susan Thomas calls such definitions pseudo facts that are peddled by medical textbooks. Inspired by the writings of gynaecologist Dr Suchitra Dalvi, Thomas responds to the depiction of female bodies in medical literature with her play, The Amazing Flabby-Breasted Virgin & Other Sordid Tales.

Medical textbooks across India define the breasts of a “deflorate” woman as “enlarged and flabby” while breasts of “florate” women are “hemispherical, firm, plump and elastic”. This perpetuates the idea of sex being a means of reproduction exclusively, and not pleasure — mostly restricted to women, of course.