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{{Short description|Examination intended to determine female virginity}}{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}A virginity test is the pseudoscientific practice and process of determining whether a woman or girl is a virgin; i.e., to determine that she has never engaged in, or been subjected to, vaginal intercourse. The test typically involves a check for the presence of an intact hymen, typically on the flawed assumption that it can only be, and will always be torn as a result of vaginal intercourse.JOURNAL, The little tissue that couldn't – dispelling myths about the Hymen's role in determining sexual history and assault, 2019-06-03, 6547601, Mishori, R., Ferdowsian, H., Naimer, K., Volpellier, M., McHale, T., Reproductive Health, 16, 1, 74, 10.1186/s12978-019-0731-8, 31159818, free, It has been practiced since ancient times but its recent use in the United Kingdom dates back to the 1970s.WEB, 2011-05-08, Virginity tests for immigrants 'reflected dark age prejudices' of 1970s Britain,weblink 2021-11-23, the Guardian, en, It is still legal for doctors in the United States to perform virginity tests.WEB, 2019-12-09, 'Now I have to check your hymen': the shocking persistence of virginity tests,weblink 2021-11-23, the Guardian, en, Virginity testing is widely considered controversial because of its implications for the tested women and girls as it is viewed as unethical,WEB,weblink University of California at Santa Barbara's SexInfo, The Hymen, 4 March 2009, 19 Jun 2010, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20100619150625weblink">weblink and because a number of such tests are widely considered to be unscientific. In cases of suspected rape or child sexual abuse, a detailed examination of the hymen may be performed, but the condition of the hymen alone is often inconclusive.BOOK, Perlman, Sally E., Nakajyma, Steven T., Hertweck, S. Paige, Clinical protocols in pediatric and adolescent gynecology,weblink registration, 2004, Parthenon, 131, 1-84214-199-6, In October 2018, the UN Human Rights Council, UN Women and the World Health Organization (WHO) called for the ban of virginity testing as it is a painful, humiliating and a traumatic practice that constitutes violence against women.WEB,weblink United Nations agencies call for ban on virginity testing, 17 October 2018, World Health Organization, 22 October 2018,

History

File:Inquest of matrons or trial for a rape (BM 1977,U.537).jpg|thumb|Thomas Rowlandson, Inquest of Matrons or Trial for a RapeInquest of Matrons or Trial for a RapeMany pre-modern societies placed great value on assessing the virginity of their girls, as is attested in sources ranging from mythology to popular literature, folklore, and official records.BOOK, Burge, Amy,weblink Virgin Envy: The Cultural (In)significance of the Hymen, 2016, University of Regina Press, 978-0-88977-423-0, Allan, Jonathan A., Regina, Saskatchewan, 17-19, 26-33, 1. 'I Will Cut Myself and Smear Blood On the Sheet', Santos, Christina, Spahr, Adriana, Prior to the advance of European medicine in the 15th century, the nature of the hymen was not fully understood, and consequently a great variety of more or less miraculous or scientific tests were advocated for. The Incas of Peru reserved their sacred "Virgins of the Sun" as brides for high status men, and when a girl was suspected of sexual activity, she was made to blow into a smouldering fire; if the fire flared up, she was deemed chaste.BOOK, Brasch, Rudolph,weblink How Did Sex Begin?, 1975, Pan Books, 978-0-330-24422-0, London, 28, In ancient Greece, a story related in the 5th century BC tells how the god Pan could establish the purity of any girl, as his mystical flute responded spontaneously to the presence of a virgin. The Medieval romances Floris and Blancheflur (c. 1250) and Bevis of Hampton (c. 1300) both feature virgin heroines who must prove their purity and therefore their worth.{{Efn|The captive Christian princess Blancheflur is compelled by her master the Emir to immerse her hands in a water that will stain impure flesh. Josiane offers to prove her virginity (not specifying how) to her sceptical lover, Sir Bevis.}} The scenario was also acted out on the English stage, in plays such as Middleton's The Changeling (1622).JOURNAL, Luttfring, Sara D., 2011, Masten, Jeffrey, West, William N., Bodily Narratives and the Politics of Virginity,weblink Renaissance Drama, New, Evanston, Northwestern University Press, 39, 101, 107, 110, 111, 123, 127,

Two-finger test

The process of virginity testing varies by region. In areas where medical doctors are available, the tests would often be given in a doctor's office.WEB,weblink Women, Violence, and Health, 18 February 2005,weblink 15 March 2020, www.amnesty.org, However, in countries where doctors are not available, testers will often be older women, or whoever can be trusted to search for a hymen. This is common among African tribes that perform the test.Another form of virginity testing involves testing for laxity of vaginal muscles with fingers (the "two-finger test"). A doctor performs the test by inserting a finger into the female's vagina to check the level of vaginal laxity, which is used to determine if she is "habituated to sexual intercourse".NEWS, McNeil Jr., Donald G., Rape: Rights Group Calls Test to Determine Sexual Activity a 'Second Assault' in India, The New York Times, 13 September 2010,weblink 15 September 2010, However, the usefulness of these criteria has been questioned by medical authorities and opponents of virginity testing because vaginal laxity and the absence of a hymen can both be caused by other factors, and the "two-finger test" is based on subjective observation.PRESS RELEASE, Dignity on Trial: India's Need Sound Standards for Conducting and Interpreting Forensic Examinations of Rape Survivors, Human Rights Watch, 6 September 2010,weblink 15 September 2010, NEWS, 'Crude, degrading' finger-test forced on Mumbai gangrape victim by cops,weblink 18 October 2013, First Post, 9 October 2013, Examinations to test for previous sexual activity used to be performed on rape victims in Bangladesh, Pakistan and India before it was banned.NEWS,weblink Two Finger Rape Test – Now Banned in India, 2014-05-08, 2017-12-28, en-US, NEWS,weblink It's time Pakistan banned the two-finger test for decoding consent in rape trials, Malik, Zainab Z., 2017-12-18, DAWN.COM, 2017-12-28, en-US, NEWS,weblink Bangladesh High Court Bans 'two finger test' for Rape, Shaon, Ashif Islam, 2018-04-23, Dhaka Tribune, 2018-04-23, en-US, Among the Bantu peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa, virginity testing or even the suturing of the labia majora (called infibulation) has been commonplace. Traditionally, Kenuzi girls (of the Sudan) are married before puberty(Godard, 1867) by adult men who inspect them manually for virginity.

Example of violence against women

Virginity testing drives unequal social pressures for men and women to remain virgins until they marry. Virginity testing perpetuates these harmful stereotyped beliefs through the discriminatory framework that women are primarily responsible for all sexual activity and misconduct.In Iran, sixteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants aged 32 to 60 years to elucidate the perceptions and experiences of Iranian examiners of virginity testing. The perception and experience of examiners were reflected in five main themes. The result of this study indicated that virginity testing is more than a medical examination, considering the cultural factors involved and its overt and covert consequences. In Iran, testing is performed for both formal and informal reasons, and examiners view such testing with ambiguity about the accuracy and certainty of the diagnosis and uncertainty about ethics and reproductive rights. Examiners are affected by the overt and covert consequences of virginity testing, beliefs and cultural values underlying virginity testing, and informal and formal reasons for virginity testing also used to examine sexual offence.JOURNAL, Olson, Rose McKeon, García-Moreno, Claudia, 2015-11-18, Virginity testing: a systematic review, Reproductive Health, 14, 1, 61, 10.1186/s12978-017-0319-0, 1742-4755, 5437416, 28521813, free, (File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px) Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Reasons

Many cultures require proof of a bride's virginity prior to her marriage. This has traditionally been tested by the presence of an intact hymen, which was verified by either a physical examination (usually by a physician), who would provide a certificate of virginity or by a "proof of blood", which refers to vaginal bleeding that results from the tearing of the hymen.BOOK, Perlman, Sally E., Nakajyma, Steven T., Hertweck, S. Paige, Clinical protocols in pediatric and adolescent gynecology,weblink registration, 2004, Parthenon, 131, 1-84214-199-6, BOOK, The London medical and physical journal, Volume 51, Harvard University, 1824, 8 October 2011,weblink BOOK, Kathleen Coyne Kelly, Performing virginity and testing chastity in the Middle Ages. Volume 2 of Routledge research in medieval studies, Psychology Press, 2000, 8 October 2011, 197, 0-415-22181-1,weblink The physical examination would normally be undertaken before the marriage ceremony, while the "proof by blood" involves an inspection for signs of bleeding as part of the consummation of marriage, after the ceremony.

Abuse of women

Egypt's military forces performed virginity tests on women detained during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. After Amnesty International protested to the Egyptian government in March 2011,Amnesty International: Egyptian women protesters forced to take 'virginity tests' the government claimed the tests were carried out in order to refute claims that the women had been raped while in detention. Amnesty International described the virginity tests as "nothing less than torture".NEWS, Watchdog: Egypt Army Acknowledges 'Virginity Tests',weblink 28 June 2011, Fox News, 27 June 2011, Associated Press, Cairo, Amnesty International said Monday that Egypt's military rulers have acknowledged carrying out so-called 'virginity tests' on female protesters – the first time the army has admitted to the much-criticized practice., Virginity tests done by the military on detainees were banned in Egypt on 27 December 2011,NEWS,weblink Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, Egyptian court rules against virginity tests., CNN, 27 December 2011, 2011-12-27, but in March 2012, the physician who carried out the tests was acquitted of all charges.NEWS,weblink Egypt unrest: Court clears 'virginity test' doctor., BBC world news, 11 March 2012, 2012-08-05, Samira Ibrahim, the Egyptian woman who filed the lawsuit against the government that initiated public discussion of their use of virginity testing, said in response to the physician's acquittal: "A woman's body should not be used as a tool for intimidation, and nobody should have their dignity violated."NEWS, Deena, Adel,weblink Samira Ibrahim, 'Virginity Test' Victim, Fights Egypt's Military Rule, The Daily Beast, IAC (company), IAC, New York City, 19 March 2012, 5 August 2012, Prior to the 1980s, virginity testing was also used on women entering the United Kingdom on what was popularly called a fiancée visa, when they said they were immigrating to marry their fiancées who were already living in the country.NEWS, British Virginity Testing of Immigrants Must End,weblink Associated Press, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Google News, 3 February 1979, The British government argued that if the women were virgins, they were more likely to be telling the truth about their reason for immigrating to the country. In January 1979, a woman was required by British immigration officers to undergo a virginity test when she arrived in London claiming that she was there to marry. Such a visit did not require a visa, but as proof of her bona fides, she was required to submit to the test. This practice was exposed by The Guardian in 1979NEWS, Melanie, Phillips,weblink From the archive: Airport virginity tests banned by Rees, The Guardian, London, England, 3 February 2010, and the policy was quickly changed.NEWS, Andy, Beckett,weblink The changing face of Melanie Phillips, The Guardian, London, England, 7 March 2003, NEWS,weblink London, The Guardian, Alan, Travis, Virginity tests for immigrants 'reflected dark age prejudices' of 1970s Britain, 8 May 2011, Virginity testing in Indonesia for female applicants to the military and police has been practiced since 1965 and is carried out during medical examinations. An announcement was made in August 2013 in Prabumulih district, South Sumatra, Indonesia, by local education chief Muhammad Rasyid, that teenage girls attending high school there would be given mandatory annual virginity tests, beginning in 2014.NEWS, Michael Bachelard, Bachelard, Michael, Virginity test for high school girls,weblink 21 August 2013, The Age, 21 August 2013, World, The stated intent was to reduce promiscuity in the district.NEWS, Kate, Hodal, Female students in Indonesia may be forced to undergo 'virginity tests',weblink The Guardian, London, England, 21 August 2013, 21 August 2013, In 2014 the Human Rights Watch reported that a physical virginity test is routinely performed on female candidates to the Indonesian National Police as part of the job application process.WEB,weblink Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, Indonesia: 'Virginity Tests' for Female Police, 18 November 2014, 19 November 2014, In August 2021, the Indonesian Army Chief of Staff General Andika Perkasa officially announced that the army will no longer conduct virginity testing for female recruits. The navy and air force had already stopped conducting virginity tests.WEB, August 5, 2021, Indonesian army finally ends virginity tests for female recruits,weblink 2021-09-08, The Sydney Morning Herald, en, WEB, 26 August 2021, Jakarta: army abolishes humiliating 'virginity test' for women,weblink'virginity-test'-for-women-53912.html, 2021-09-08, AsiaNews.it, en, WEB, Indonesia, C. N. N., TNI AU dan AL Tegaskan Tidak Lakukan Tes Keperawanan,weblink 2021-11-19, nasional, id-ID, In Iran, Atena Farghadani was charged with "illicit sexual relations falling short of adultery" for shaking hands with her lawyer in June 2015. She complained that Iranian prison officials and guards have made lewd gestures, sexual slurs and other insults to her, and went on a three-day "dry" hunger strike in September 2015 in protest of this ill-treatment. However, the harassment continued. In a note written by Farghadani leaked from prison, which has been seen by Amnesty International, Farghadani says the judicial authorities took her to a medical center outside the prison on 12 August 2015 and forced her to submit to a virginity test, purportedly for the purpose of investigating the charge against her.PRESS RELEASE,weblink Imprisoned cartoonist subjected to forced virginity test in Iran, amnestyusa.org, 18 June 2016, In India's Kanjarbhat community, after a marriage ceremony takes place, a virginity test is carried out on the newly-married wife using a white bed sheet. If the woman bleeds following intercourse with her new husband, it is declared that 'Maal khara hai' (the goods are pure) and if she does not bleed, the council will declare that 'Maal khota hai' (the goods are spoiled).WEB,weblink live, The humiliating 'virginity tests' for brides, a reality in India's Kanjarbhat community, Parth, M S, 7 February 2018, The Indian Express,weblink 16 April 2018, 5 December 2021, NEWS, In the nomadic Kanjarbhat community, a group of activists are quietly leading a campaign against 'virginity tests',weblink Firstpost, Sonali, Jain, 7 February 2019, In 2019, the Maharashtra state government announced that it intended to make virginity tests for brides a punishable offence, describing the practice as form of sexual assault.NEWS, Maharashtra govt to make virginity tests for brides a punishable offence, calls practice a form of sexual assault,weblink Firstpost, 7 February 2019, Virginity tests are common in Afghanistan. Some women undergo multiple tests. The tests are often done without the woman's consent. They have drawn widespread condemnation, with critics saying they are inhumane and hurt the dignity of women.WEB, Aria, Ahmadzai, Camelia, Sadeghzadeh,weblink The shame of Afghanistan's virginity tests, BBC News, BBC World Service, London, England, 29 December 2017, 21 October 2018,

Reliability

Many researchers state that a torn hymen is not a reliable indicator that a female has been vaginally penetrated because the tearing of the hymen may have been the result of some other event. Furthermore, in rare cases, some people are born without hymens.Emans, S. Jean. "Physical Examination of the Child and Adolescent" (2000) in Evaluation of the Sexually Abused Child: A Medical Textbook and Photographic Atlas, Second edition, Oxford University Press. 61–65McCann, J; Rosas, A. and Boos, S. (2003) "Child and adolescent sexual assaults (childhood sexual abuse)" in Payne-James, Jason; Busuttil, Anthony and Smock, William (eds). Forensic Medicine: Clinical and Pathological Aspects, Greenwich Medical Media: London, a)p.453, b)p.455 c)p.460.The hymen is a ring of fleshy tissue that sits just inside the vaginal opening. Normal variations range from thin and stretchy to thick and somewhat rigid. The only variation that typically requires medical intervention is the imperforate hymen, which either completely prevents the passage of menstrual fluid or slows it significantly. In either case, surgical intervention may be needed to allow menstrual fluid to pass or intercourse to take place at all. Another variation, the septate hymen (a condition in which a band of tissue divides the vaginal canal in two) may also require medical intervention if it does not resolve naturally through sexual intercourse or other means. It is a misconception that the hymen always tears during first intercourse or that intercourse is required to rupture the hymen.A female can undergo a surgical procedure, called hymenorrhaphy or hymenoplasty, to repair or replace a torn hymen, to "pass" a virginity test.NEWS,weblink Muslim women in France regain virginity in clinics, Reuters, 30 April 2007,

Criticism

In May 2013, the Supreme Court of India held that the two-finger test on a rape victim violates her right to privacy, and asked the Delhi government to provide better medical procedures to confirm sexual assault.NEWS, Press Trust of India,weblink No two-finger test for rape: SC, The Hindu, 2013-05-19, 2013-10-18, NEWS,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20130608221408weblink">weblink dead, 2013-06-08, Two-finger test should be stopped with immediate effect: SC, 2013-05-20, The Times of India, 2013-10-18, In 2003, the Supreme Court of India called TFT "hypothetical" and "opinionative". In October 2022 the Supreme Court of India strongly criticized the utilization of the "two-finger test" in rape and sexual assault cases and urged the central government to take immediate steps to cease the practice. The court emphasized that this test lacks any scientific foundation to determine the sexual history of women and instead causes further trauma to survivors. As a result, the Supreme Court ruled that anyone conducting such a test on a survivor would be considered guilty of misconduct.WEB,weblink "Two-Finger Test to Confirm Rape Patriarchal, Sexist": Supreme Court, Most countries have scrapped it as archaic, unscientific and invasive of privacy and dignity.NEWS,weblink Insult After Assault: The two-finger test is not only unscientific but also degrading for the victim. The demand to ban it mounts : NATION, India Today, 2013-02-01, 2013-10-18, Quebec's Collège des Médecins has banned members from conducting virginity tests after some were found to be doing this, as well as providing virginity certificates.NEWS, Virginity tests banned in Quebec,weblink CTV News, 11 October 2013, In 2021 the Lahore High Court banned the use of virginity tests in cases where women claim they were raped.WEB,weblink Pakistan court bans virginity tests for rape survivors, www.aljazeera.com, The UK's Royal College of Midwives says that virginity testing is indefensible with no medical benefit.NEWS, 'Treated worse than an animal': Virginity testing on women and girls at levels 'never seen before',weblink Sky News, Ashish, Joshi, 2 July 2021, It was criminalised in the UK from 2022, along with hymenorrhaphy and offering or aiding and abetting these procedures, with the Health and Care Act 2022.LEGISLATION UK, act, Health and Care Act 2022, 2022, 31, , Part 5

Reasons for testing

{{See also|Virgin complex}}

Immigration

Virginity testing was performed on Indian women as part of the British immigration system in the 1970s, when there was a suspicion that an applicant might be already married. Applicants were expected to be virgins if they were not married.

Prevention of disease and pregnancy

Preventing the spread of HIV and teenage pregnancy are examples of reasons given by proponents of virginity testing. In 2004, a Zimbabwean village chief, Naboth Makoni, stated that he would adopt a plan to enforce virginity tests as a way of protecting his people against HIV. He explained that he focuses on girls because he believes they are easier to control than boys.Virginity and HIV Tests Before Marriage, from News From Africa {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302031417weblink |date=2 March 2007 }}, Virginity and HIV Tests Before Marriage, from News From Africa. Retrieved 4 March 2009. In South Africa, where virginity testing is banned for girls under the age of 16, the Zulu tribe believes that the practice prevents the spread of HIV and teenage pregnancy.NEWS,weblink The Washington Post, Zulus Eagerly Defy Ban on Virginity Test, Karin Brulliard, NONGOMA, South Africa, 26 September 2008, 4 March 2009, A woman interviewed by the Washington Post stated that "[Virginity testing] is important so that young girls become scared of boys. Because what happens is first the boy strips you of your virginity, and the next thing you know is you are pregnant and you have HIV."

Royal affirmations

(File:Holy virgins.jpg|thumb|Zulu virgins in 2019)In Zulu culture, there is a tradition in which girls of a certain age can perform a dance for the king. However, only virgins are allowed to participate. If a girl is tested and declared a virgin, she brings honor to her family. If a girl is found not to be a virgin, her father may have to pay a fine for "tainting" the community and the girl may be shunned from the "certified" virgins.JOURNAL, 10.1525/maq.2001.15.4.533, LeClerc-Madlala, Suzanne, Virginity Testing: Managing Sexuality in a Maturing HIV/AIDS Epidemic, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 15, 4, 533–552, 2001, 11794875, Because of the ramifications that being considered impure have for the girls and their families, virginity testing has the potential to be a life-changing event.

See also

• Artificial hymen
• Madonna–whore complex
• Virgin complex
• Virginity
• Body cavity search
• GCC homosexuality test
• Health and Care Act 2022

Notes

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References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• Women suffer the myths of the hymen and the virginity test, The Conversation

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