Virginity Testing and the Politics of Sexual Responsibility: Implications for AIDS Intervention

Controversy continues to surround the age-old practice of virginity testing, which in South Africa made a visible comeback around the time of the country’s first democratic elections when most South Africans began to feel free to practise their cultural beliefs without fear. It coincided with the period when the HIV pandemic began to take hold. It is practised mainly in some countries of Asia and Africa, and in South Africa it is practised mainly amongst amaZulu. It is believed that this practice prevents unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), especially HIV/AIDS, as well as engendering a sense of pride in teenage and young females, in particular. However, some individuals, organisations and sectors of the community frown upon the practice because it violates constitutional laws that protect the right to equality, privacy, bodily integrity and sexual autonomy. The purpose of this article is to present current discourse on the cultural practice of virginity testing and the controversies surrounding this discourse. This article draws its arguments from the existing literature on virginity testing.

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Sexual Responsibility in Marriage.

JAMA ◽

10.1001/jama.1963.03710010122054 ◽

1963 ◽

Vol 186 (1) ◽

pp. 88

Keyword(s):

Sexual Responsibility

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Virginity testing: a systematic review

Reproductive Health ◽

10.1186/s12978-017-0319-0 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Rose McKeon Olson ◽

Claudia García-Moreno

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Virginity Testing

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Michael Rosenberg, Signs of Virginity: testing virgins and making men in late

Clio ◽

10.4000/clio.18766 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Christophe Lemardelé

Keyword(s):

Virginity Testing

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Virginity Test in Police Recruitment System: Evidence from Indonesia

Budapest International Research and Critics Institute (BIRCI-Journal) Humanities and Social Sciences ◽

10.33258/birci.v4i2.1965 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 2600-2611

Author(s):

Manotar Tampubolon

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Police Officer ◽

Quantitative Study ◽

Police Officers ◽

Policy Development ◽

Women Empowerment ◽

Muslim Countries ◽

Evolutionary Advantage ◽

Recruitment System ◽

Virginity Testing

It is difficult for women to become police officers in Indonesia. One of the mandatory requirements is to become a virgin. Women who are no longer virgins cannot pass the selection. However, if the woman's hymen is damaged not because of sexual intercourse but because of an accident, she still hopes to become a police officer. This study aims to examine the virgin criteria as a requirement to become a policewoman in Indonesia. This quantitative study examines the virginity for police admission based on virginity requirements from a human rights perspective and the concept of innocence. Inspired by the idea of purity from Hanne Blank that celibacy does not reflect a known biological necessity and provides no demonstrable evolutionary advantage. This article says that police virginity testing is not essential and makes up discrimination of women's opportunity to become a police officer because there is no correlation between virginity and police duty. This article evaluates this activity performed Indonesian police force from the lights of human rights. It criticizes the policy development specification of Indonesia which is even poor than India and Muslim countries as even in this country women empowerment is prioritized and respected. This country is needed to incorporate changes in this policy.

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Building a South African Human Rights Culture in the Face of Cultural Diversity: Context and Conflict

African Journal of Legal Studies ◽

10.1163/170873812x626441 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 1-20 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

John Cantius Mubangizi

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Human Rights ◽

Cultural Diversity ◽

Female Circumcision ◽

Clear Understanding ◽

Potential Conflict ◽

Cultural Rights ◽

The Face ◽

Institutional Contexts ◽

Virginity Testing

Abstract South Africa has faced enormous challenges since the advent of democracy in 1994. One of the difficulties in the post-apartheid era has been the building of a human rights culture in the context of substantial cultural diversity. In this paper, the constitutional, judicial and institutional contexts – which have consolidated and supported the expression of human rights in the face of cultural diversity – are reviewed. The focus on cultural rights in the constitution is discussed, and the relevance of several constitutional institutions in terms of ensuring human rights, is mentioned. With a clear understanding of the constitutional, judicial and institutional contexts in place, the paper discusses the potentially inherent conflict between human rights and cultural rights, using gender-related issues as a proxy. Several examples of this potential conflict are discussed, including female circumcision, virginity testing and polygamy. The importance of human rights education for informing the debate about cultural and human rights in South Africa is emphasized. The answers to the challenges associated with the clash between cultural rights and human rights are not simple, although pragmatically – in addition to the role of the available constitutional, judicial and institutional structures – they could reside in a cross-cultural debate.

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