Muhammad Rasyid the Education Chief in Indonesia has made proposals of virginity tests for senior high school girls aged 15 to 16 year old. The results of which will ultimately decide on their progression onto the next grade. Rasyid described the move as a “response to high rates of ‘adultery’ and ‘prostitution’ in female students”. The way these virginity tests would be carried out would be to send the girls to a doctor to literally have their hymens checked to see if they are intact.
There has been mass public protest to the proposal, with activist vehemently arguing that it will “promote sexual violence against women”, school aged teens to be exact. The official Indonesian Education Minister Mohammad Nuh has also criticised the plans, claiming that the tests will not address the nuances of premarital sex and that it was not wise to prohibit any students access to education, further saying “But they must find another way, a wiser way, to address the issue of sex.” Aris Merdeka Sirait of the National Commission for Child Protection (NCPCR) has stated his disdain too, stating “We strongly oppose this aggressive move.”
This is not the first time these proposals have been made in Indonesia: In 2010 virginity tests were also proposed in Jambi, central Sumatra, but due to general outrage the idea was buried.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QfmZcmtJtQ
The double standard
explains Rasyid defending the proposal.
But as much as he wants to justify it, it’s clear that double standards are present. Although he may use religion to justify his proposal, Islam also forbids males to masturbate in Islam, so why not test the boys too. If he were really concerned about ‘negative acts’ in students he would hook all students (male or female) to a polygraph machine and carry out a unilateral test which would decide their progression. But that would mean that male students would also fall behind in their education and progression and of course Rasyid does not want that.
Just because a girl doesn’t have a hymen does not mean she has engaged in ‘prostitution’, there are a number of circumstances that could lead to this from rape, sexual abuse, medical conditions, or even bicycle riding can all cause a torn hymen. It’s a blatant way to keep the female population oppressed, and with the public outcry by parents and teachers to revote and prevent this test going into practice next year, it begs to question the education chief’s personal interest in girls’ hymens. It’s very unsettling for a male education chief to be fascinated by these girls’ promiscuity, and it’s very backward and foolish to hinder the education of a section of the population, especially with the Indonesian economy in the state it is.
For a doctor to physically check a young girl’s hymen is nearly, if not very much, a form of sexual assault. A common form of virginity testing involves testing vaginal muscles with fingers (the “two-finger test”). A doctor will insert a finger into the female’s vagina to check whether she has become accustomed to sex. Female virginity tests have been condemned as harmful by expert, especially when carried out by the government.
School children in Bandung, Indonesia. Image credit: kodomut
Scary history about the views of virginity in various countries
In many countries if the bride does not bleed on her first night of marriage she is either returned to her family or killed. Notoriously in certain parts of Turkey, as well as many other countries, honor killings are still prevalent (addressed in a very tragic contemporary Turkish film “Lal Gece” translated “Night of Silence”).
But the scary fact is that although we may assume that it is only certain tribes in Africa or ultra religiously conservative countries that carry out these tests, it has been proven that the UK actually carried out at least 80 virginity tests on immigrant women who claimed for marriage visas in the late 1970s, early 1980s. It is also a sad fact that many European Muslim women go through hymenoplasty to restore the hymen before a marriage.
For anyone to believe that the only thing a woman is worth is her hymen is disgusting regardless of context. But it is still very much a part of many cultures to be shamed to the point of sub-human treatment of girls or women who have premarital sex or do not have a hymen and so don’t bleed on their wedding night. It’s a trait of my own Turkish community, even after years of living in the London, that I find absolutely infuriating.
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