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Virginity testing is a farce!
That is the crux of the arguments I present in this write-up:
Africa is filled with cultural practices that lend support to the notion of a docile female body. The practice of virginity testing where the absence of a small tissue becomes a big issue is a case in point. Every year in South Africa, for example,thousands of Zulu maidens participate in the Umhlanga , celebrating virginity. Tens of thousands of teenagers, wearing nothing but strings of beads and colorful loincloth submit themselves annually to the ordeal of having a stranger stick a finger in their private parts to check if their hymens are intact. They leap for joy when the tests confirm that they are still virgins. The young girls undergoing genital examination to determine their virginity lay on a grass mat while the operation is taking place. The tester, usually an elderly woman, uses a single pair of gloves while examining the teenagers. Sometimes it is carried out with bare hands and the tester seldom washes her hands! Girls who pass the test get white stars pasted
on their foreheads and a certificate confirming their virginity is given to them. If a girl passes the test, the women clap and ululate but when she fails, an accusing silence follows the girl, who is asked to sit in a corner and wait for an older woman to counsel her. Girls who fail the test are usually shunned and subjected to psychological and emotional trauma. Virginity test thus becomes an ordeal for these young girls.
Despite the notoriety of this practice throughout Africa, critics view it as a violation of the right of the girl child. They argue that the practice is unconstitutional and violates the human rights of those being tested. Others argue that the practice violates children’s right to privacy, bodily integrity and dignity. This writer believes that virginity testing undermines the principles of equality, freedom and human dignity. According to an article published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs the South African Commission on Gender Equality has described virginity testing as “discriminatory, invasive of privacy, unfair, impinging on the dignity of young girls and unconstitutional.” (2) Proponents argue that the practice is the best way to curb sexual promiscuity, unwanted teenage pregnancy and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
These persuasive arguments notwithstanding, the fact of the matter is that only scant attention is being paid to the health hazards and the emotional burden put on the young girls undergoing virginity testing. Social workers in South Africa and other parts of Africa have noted that pressure emanating from virginity testing is resulting in young girls engaging in anal intercourse in order to keep their status as virgins intact. Loveness Jambaya points out that if a girl is found to have had sex she is “open to being ostracized by the community and subjected to all forms of abuse.” (2) The questions that beg being asked is: What about boys? Why aren’t they being tested? Are boys not liable to sexual promiscuity? Boys should be taught to be well-behaved as well not just girls. It is discriminatory to impose virginity testing on girls but not on boys. This attitude stigmatizes the female gender given that women are perceived as inherently deviant.
Virginity tests, I believe, rely on shame and fear rather than free choice, to dissuade teenagers from engaging in pre-marital sex. It overlooks cases where the hymen of a girl may be ruptured as a result of engaging in physically exacting activities such as sports. Moreover, these tests fail to take into account involuntary sexual encounters such as rape. A girl who has been raped would undergo trauma on several levels if she had to undergo a virginity test. On this count, many girls, out of shame, are reluctant to report that they have been raped. Are Africans not fighting a losing battle? These are some of the burning questions that advocates of this practice have not been able to address in earnest. To make matters worse, the practice has been made to serve utilitarian ends: parents want their daughters to undergo virginity testing simply because their daughters would fetch them a higher lobola if they pass the test. By putting the onus of sexual responsibility squarel
y on girls, this writer believes that virginity testing is sexist and may even contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS given the widely held misconception in many parts of Africa that having unprotected sex with a virgin may be a cure for AIDS. This has led to the rape of many girls, from infants to young women. Virginity testing now serves as a dangerous companion to this myth by exposing virgins to male predators.
PETER W.VAKUNTA
DEPARTMENT OF FRENCH AND ITALIAN
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON
602 VAN HISE HALL
1220 LINDEN DRIVE
MADISON WI 53706-1525
U.S.A
Office 608 262 4067
Home 608 442 6089
Cell 608 381 0407
"The day will come when history will speak... Africa will write its own history... it will be a history of glory and dignity." - Patrice Lumumba
----- Original Message -----
From: f ossia <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, June 2, 2008 7:53 pm
Subject: FW: Outrage As French Court Annuls Muslim Marriage Over Bride's Virginity Lie
To: [log in to unmask]
> **********************************************************
>
> 10TH AFRICAN FEST ANNIVERSARY
>
> SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 2008
>
> RENEW YOUR AAM MEMBERSHIP FOR $25!!!!
>
> MAIL YOUR CHECK TO AAM, P. O. Box 1016, MADISON, WI 53701
>
> **********************************************************
>
>
>
>
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>
> Outrage As French Court Annuls Muslim Marriage Over Bride's Virginity
> Lie ...Ladies Now Pay $20,000 To Restore Virginity Through Surgery
>
> OUTRAGE AS FRENCH COURT ANNULS MUSLIM MARRIAGE OVER BRIDE'S VIRGINITY
> LIE ...LADIES NOW PAY $20,000 TO RESTORE VIRGINITY THROUGH SURGERY
> The annulment of a young Muslim couple’s marriage because the bride
> was not a virgin has caused anger in France, prompting President
> Sarkozy’s party to call for a change in the law.
> The decision by a court in Lille was condemned by the Government,
> media, feminists and civil rights organisations after it was reported
> in a legal journal on Thursday. Patrick Devedjian, leader of the
> ruling Union for a Popular Movement, said it was unacceptable that the
> law could be used for religious reasons to repudiate a bride. It must
> be modified “to put an end to this extremely disturbing situation”, he
> said.
> The case, which had previously gone unreported, involved an engineer
> in his 30s, named as Mr X, who married Ms Y, a student nurse in her
> 20s, in 2006. The wedding night party was still under way at the
> family’s home in Roubaix when the groom came down from the bedroom
> complaining that his bride was not a virgin. He could not display the
> blood-stained sheet that is traditionally exhibited as proof of the
> bride’s “purity”.
> Mr X went to court the following morning and was granted a annulment
> on the grounds that his bride had deceived him on “one of the
> essential elements” of the marriage. In disgrace with both families,
> she acknowledged that she had led her groom to believe that she was a
> virgin when she had already had sexual intercourse. She did not oppose
> the annulment.
> Critics ran out of superlatives to condemn what they depicted as a
> dangerous aberration. Valérie Létard, Minister for Women’s Rights,
> said that she was “shocked to see that today in France the civil law
> can be used to diminish the status of women”.
> Elisabeth Badinter, a philosopher and pioneer of women’s legal
> rights, said that she felt shame for the French justice system. “The
> sexuality of women in France is a private and free matter,” she said.
> “The annulment will just serve to send young Muslim girls running to
> hospitals to have their hymens restored.”
> Although officially discouraged, the 30-minute operation is in
> increasing demand from Muslim women who fear the consequences of being
> unable to prove their virginity on their wedding night. Numerous
> agencies offer services for surgery trips to north African nations.
> One is offering a “hymenoplasty trip” to Tunis for €1,250 (£980).
> Internet sites and blogs are full of would-be brides in fear of the
> test of “the blood-soaked sheet”.
> While ministers fulminated against the Lille decision, a different
> stand was taken by Rachida Dati, the Justice Minister, who has
> Moroccan and Tunisian parents. The law had, she said, protected the
> bride. “Annulling a marriage is a way of protecting the person who
> perhaps wants to undo a marriage. I think this young girl wanted . . .
> to separate quite quickly. The law is there to protect vulnerable
> people,” Ms Dati said.
> The annulment was defended by Xavier Labbée, the lawyer who acted for
> Ms Y. The decision was justified by the bride’s deception, not her
> sexual history, he argued. “Quite simply it is about a lie,” he said.
> “Religion did not motivate the decision . . . but it is true that
> religious convictions played a role.”
> Requests for annulments have risen sharply to nearly 2,000 a year in
> France, but experts could recall no case involving non-virginity.
>
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