Does a Virginity Test decide the character of a woman?

Highlights

A woman’s virginity is still considered as a deciding factor to evaluate her character.

Wedding Night Virginity Test is against a woman’s right to live life with dignity and right to privacy and is a Sexual Assault on Women.

It’s a myth that the hymen gets ruptured only during sexual intercourse.

Is a Woman a Product to check for Defects?

Why is a man’s virginity never questioned?

It’s time to put an end to this humiliating practice of disrespecting women’s sexuality and violation of basic human rights.

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No matter how progressive we are today or how the world talks about feminism and breaking stereotypes towards women, Women are still subjected to humiliation and violation of their rights by the Virginity tests.

Hundreds of women are forced to take virginity tests not only in India and Asian countries but also in Western countries like Canada, Sweden, Spain, and the Netherlands.

A woman’s virginity is still considered as a deciding factor to evaluate her character and is being perpetrated in the name of customs and traditions.

What is a Virginity Test?

A virginity test is a practice that intends to determine whether a woman is a virgin, to ensure that she has never been engaged in sexual intercourse.

How are virginity tests performed?

Different communities around the world use different methods to test the virginity of women.

Some of the commonly used methods are

1. Inspect the hymen and look at its size and shape.

2. The “two-finger test,” involves inserting fingers into the vagina.

Breaking the Myths about Hymen

The hymen is a thin elastic piece of skin that surrounds the opening of the vagina. Every individual hymen is unique in appearance.

Not all women have the same thickness of hymen. Some have very thin hymen without blood vessels, or too thick hymen which may not get ruptured but is just stretched.

Virginity tests are unreliable, sexist, and inaccurate. And yet they persist

It’s a myth that the hymen gets ruptured only during sexual intercourse and results in little bleeding.

Physical activities like cycling, sporting activities or invasive medical procedures, or the use of tampons can tear or stretch the hymen.

A woman may not have had sex previously but may nonetheless not bleed during her first sexual encounter and it has also been quoted that the hymen can heal even after being ruptured.

Virginity tests are unreliable and invasive and notoriously inaccurate as it is extremely difficult to determine whether any change to the hymen is a result of penetrative sex or other activities.

Virginity Testing – Wedding Night Ritual

Virginity testing is a long-standing practice in several regions of the world. We live in a male-centric society and for centuries, men have been making the rules. Most of the women feel that the rules need to be followed or else they would be boycotted from the community.

Some cultures like the Kanjarbhat community, in India, still believe that the practice of virginity test for brides before marriage is a mandatory ritual, which is based on the outdated notions of “purity”.

This 400-year-old custom has been designed to prove that a bride’s sexual encounter with her new husband is her first sexual experience and that her hymen is broken on her wedding night.

According to the custom, newlyweds in the community are handed a white cloth on their wedding night to use during intercourse.

The family or by a council of elders check for the blood stains on the cloth and declare whether the bride is a virgin.

‘Blood on the bed sheet a must’ to certify a woman’s character

A girl passes the test only if her hymen breaks and bleeds on the wedding night. The elders then declare her as “Maal Khara hai” which means “goods are pure”.

Is a Woman a Product to check for Defects?

If she doesn’t, they say “Maal Khota hai” meaning she is “spoiled goods” that she had premarital sex and is subjected to beatings and communal humiliation, and even divorce.

Not all people understand that bleeding during the first sexual intercourse does not always mean that the girl is not a virgin.

How it impacts women?

Conducting virginity tests to know the purity of a woman is against her right to live with dignity and right to privacy. It’s a Sexual Assault.

Though many women are railing against the practice, they are threatened by their family members or partners and are often performed without her consent.

Do I need to prove I am a Virgin? Does this define my character?

Women are subjected to guilt, shame, depression, self-disgust, anxiety, and a negative body image, and in some extreme cases even honor killings if they fail to prove their virginity.

Is there an end to this practice?

Today, most women are refusing to undergo the virginity tests and are even fighting with their families and elders to change the way they see and trust women.

Even men are supporting women to fight the regressive tradition of conducting virginity tests on brides and are protesting and campaigning against ‘virginity tests’ on brides.

The sexual assault of women can be stopped only when you can answer the following questions.

Does the virginity of women matter to lead a happy life? If so,

Why is a man’s virginity never questioned?

Why should a woman always need to go through an exam to prove something about her sexual history?

Why wouldn’t society simply believe what she says?

Just Think About It.

We hope at least this generation will ensure to eradicate this humiliating practice of women’s sexuality and violation of basic human rights.

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Disclaimer: This news story is not just a new coverage but a slap on our society’s face and a reminder to us that we NEED to stand up together and fight the evil!!

While the Indian government is still in the dilemma of whether sex education should be a part of the Indian Education System or not, another appalling incident of Nagaur district of Rajasthan came into light, where a 14-year-old minor girl has reportedly given birth to a child on the night of December 13, 2020. In the wake of this incident, four people have been booked for the charges of rape, which includes the minor’s brother.

“The girl is 14 and unmarried. The matter came to light when the girl and her family reached the Zanana Hospital in Ajmer on Sunday, where the doctors, after safely delivering her baby, informed us that the mother is a minor,” said Narotam Singh, station house officer, Padukalan police station.

“The minor, along with her child, is under police and medical supervision. Based on the statements of her family, her brother and three other villagers have been booked under the Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act,” SHO Singh added. “Her family members confessed that her brother and three others from the same village have raped her several times.”

As per the reports, further details are yet to be received after the DNA tests of the accused and the newborn child.

No woman is safe in India, I say, but Rajasthan reportedly had the highest number of rapes with 5,997 cases in 2020, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh with 3,065 cases and 2,485 cases respectively. According to sources, Rajasthan also had the highest rate of rape cases at 15.9 (per lakh population) followed by Kerala and Haryana at 11.1 and 10.9, respectively.

A 14YO minor girl in Rajasthan’s Nagaur district has reportedly given birth to a child after which four people, including her brother, have been booked for rape. — Source

While I’m writing this, a part of me has already given up! And as I said earlier, I know it will not stop ever!

My question is: would this have been better if they were taught about sex and sexuality right from the beginning? Would this have been better if they knew the core meaning of words like ‘consent’ and ‘no’? Would this have been better if they were taught the value of equality and respect towards every gender?

“The reality is that many children are not comfortable having such a discussion with parents. Parents should at least facilitate such conversations if they (the children) are hesitant about it,” says Ram, a member of Racsha.

Filmmaker Aniruddha Roychowdhury believes that children should be taught to speak about abuse more openly. “If there is any violation, there has to be a protest. Be it an uncle or anyone else known to the family; they (perpetrators of abuse) should be punished and shamed so that they are not able to step out. They should be exposed on social media and newspapers and the parents, elder brother or sister have to listen to the child,” he adds.

It’s hardly been six months since the Bois Locker Room, the infamous Instagram ‘scandal’, happened — and here we are, discussing and writing about several other cases of rape and sexual abuse happened after that.

And the sad part is that almost 99% of these cases go unreported — sad and dark, isn’t it?

Where and what is the problem they ask. Is it the mentality or rage or a compulsive mechanism to overpower a woman’s will or just an amusement? The reason is never annotated, never justified.

And while we figure out a solid solution to this, can we just urge the government to rethink about sex education and request every parent to talk about it?

Sex education helps in learning about the mental, physical, emotional and social aspects of sexuality by making children and teenagers aware about their physical well being, health, hygiene, dignity and also enhances their skills, knowledge, attitudes and social values which further helps them in developing respectful social and sexual relationships.

And maybe this will result in a lesser number of incidents, more number of people talking about it in a healthy way and more parents supporting their children for the justice and life they deserve?

Unlike the family of this minor in Rajasthan, people would not wait until the delivery and speak about the evil and fight against it — and maybe then no brother would think of raping his sister, no father would sell his daughter for a meagre amount of four lakh, and no husband would throw acid on his wife’s face in the name of purity!

Can we still hope for that dawn?

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