Virginity testing involves girls/women being physically examined by traditional examiners to determine if they are virgins. But what happens when they find out I am not?...
Is virginity in females still a thing in our society today?
Let's take it back to history..
In the middle ages, virginity was a commodity for females. Mainly because it was the most reliable guarantee of paternity and determining your heir rightful. The only way for fathers to be absolutely sure that all their hard work will be inherited by their legitimate heir was through sleeping with a virgin. In the African culture virginity played an essential part in determining a girl’s worth such as during Lobola negotiations. If a woman was “pure” or a virgin, their lobola prices would go up.
Since virginity was such a great commodity, the society took it upon their hands to preserve it by taking initiatives such as virginity testing.
Traditional methods of determining a girl’s virginity depends on their intact hymen which is checked by elders the process is referred to as virginity testing. Virginity testing is a process where girls and virgins hymens are checked to determine whether they have engaged in sexual intercourse or not. A hymen is a unique membrane that covers up a woman’s vagina. This was the only factor that olden days people relied on to determine whether a woman is a virgin
Usually this membrane breaks during first time when a girl practices sexual intercourse. Hence when other women have sex for the first time, they bleed.
In other cultures such as Islam, it is very important that the sheets are covered up with blood when a wedded man and woman meet for sexual intercourse for the first time.
On the “Bloody Bedsheets” Tradition
According to Islam.org It is narrated from the Prophet (S): “The doors of Heaven to mercy will be opened in four situations: when it rains; when a child looks kindly at his parent’s face; when the door of the Ka°bah is opened; and when marriage (occurs).
As indicated by the above tradition, the concept of marriage in Islam is so sacred and valued, that the doors of Allāh (SwT)’s mercy are open on this occasion.
Therefore after the grand ceremony of celebrating the wedding. The newly weds bed will be prepared by the groom's family with white sheets. The night after the newlyweds have shared a bed for the first time, elders will come in the morning to check the “Bloody bedsheet”
In 2008, Zainab AnonyMouse wrote an article on muslimmatters.org titled sex and the Ummah: As a virgin. This was following a court case in France regarding a Muslim couple whose marriage was annulled due to the woman lying about her virginity. The night of their wedding the woman didn’t bleed and said that she was a virgin. However the groom's family have argued that she lied as she did not have a bloody sheet. Zainab further wrote “Many families are willing to turn a blind eye to their sons “playing the field”, but become borderline psychotic if their daughters are caught doing so.”
In the end she concluded by saying that virginity testing in muslim families in not fair and it’s against the request of Rasulullah as written in the Muslim holy scripture, the Quran. “This is absolutely haram, awful and works against the request of Rasulullah (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) to keep intimate matters private. If speaking about what happens between a husband and wife behind closed doors was made haram per the statements of Rasulullah (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), how about then showing it or put it on display? The Hadith in Sahih Muslim:” wrote Zanaib.
Virginity testing in South Africa is a common practice in many cultures and tribes, for example the Zulu culture. The practise of virginity testing can be laden with notions of purity, honour and worth. Ngipheni Ngcobo is one of the oldest virgins at the age of 65 and she always looks forward to September as this is the time that all the virgin girls attend uMkhosi woMhlanga (reed dance) ceremony.
According to Africa Check the sangoma and founder of the Nomkhubulwane Culture and Youth Development Organisation in Pietermaritzburg Nomagugu Ngobese who conducts virginity inspections in communities around KwaZulu-Natal said that the ritual is meant to preserve the “purity” of young Zulu girls and women.
But, Medicine & Science has argued that depending on the intact hymen is not a 100% guarantee that a woman is a virgin as there are many ways your hymen can break without having sexual intercourse.
Here are seven ways that your hymen can break without sexual intercourse:
You can fall and break your hymen
Using tampons during period. A tampon is a mass of absorbent material that is inserted like a penis in a woman’s vagina. A tampon can stretch or dislocate the hymen.
Growing up, as you grow up every person has a unique genetic make-up. The older other females get, the more chances their hymen stretch and weakens naturally
Playing sport- Sports is a physical activity, when women play sports and stretch their hymens may broke naturally as the muscles stretches during sports activities.
Petrative musturbation- We are all human beings and at some points we get horny and our body commands us to release oxytocin. Therefore, women tend to mustabate with their fingers or toys. This can also break your hymen.
Activities that put pressure on our hymen such as horseback riding and bicycle riding may break your hymen. This doesn’t mean that if you only ride a bicycle ones you will come home with a broken hymen. However when you continuously engage in activities that stretch your vagina, your hymen might break.
Yet another associated factor that makes medicine to disapprove the hymen being a determining factor to virginity.
What exactly qualifies as sexual intercourse?
Is a girl who has never had any vaginal intercourse but has had many oral intercourse, considered a virgin?
There are various methods in which virginity testing is done. However Soul City.org.za highlights the two common ones.
Soul City has interviewed Nomalanga (27) who grew up in Sobantu township in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu‑Natal. Here’s how she remembers her experience of her virginity testing.
Method 1: Opening a vagina wide open and checking if the hymen is intact
“It was usually done in a room or enclosed area where a virginity tester would sit on a grass mat, wearing gloves. The woman or girl coming for her testing would lie down and spread her legs wide open. The tester would then open your vagina (like when you enlarge something on your touchscreen phone) with both hands in the vaginal opening. She would look inside, apparently to see if your hymen (see box on the next page) was still intact, or if the size of the vaginal opening had been enlarged by a penis.”
Method 2: The liquid method
Amanda Ndlangisa (26) is a producer at a popular TV station. Her experience of virginity testing was slightly different. “Some testers would use a liquid in a small cap and pour it into the vagina. The idea was that if you are still a virgin, only a small bit of that liquid would flow into your vagina, but if your vagina has been opened by sleeping with boys, then the liquid will flow in easily,” Amanda explains.
There has been many debates about if it is ethical for women to be tested their virginity. The most common one being in 2016 when UThukela District Municipality announced the so called "virgin bursaries" to deter young women from getting involved with older men. Mayor Dudu Mazibuko who was steering the project said that the program is meant to encourage young girls to abstain from sex and focus of education.
In many cases when the elders find out that a women has lost their virginity they become treated differently to others. Sometimes other families even go to the extremes of disowning you as a women because of the "shame" you bring.
The community members sometimes also treat you as an outcast which can course some emotional trauma to the women/girl.
Join the conversation. Is the 'sacred' virginity testing a violation of human rights?
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