African virginity testing

Africa Check encourages frank, open, inclusive discussion of the topics raised on the website. Inspections are conducted by women in their communities who specialise in virginity inspection, Ngobese added, and the form of inspection they practise is based on indigenous knowledge within the Zulu tradition. Learn more about us. Workshops are not working. People must come up with suggestions. Mazibuko, a member of the ruling African National Congress, argued that there was already a strong culture of virginity testing in the poor eastern coastal province. Virginity testing in South Africa is common in Zulu culture.

ABOUT US ADVERTISE About Our Ads Contact Us RSS FAQ Careers Archive User Agreement Privacy Policy Comment Policy. In theory girls are free to choose to participate in a test, but in practice coercion is often the order of the day. The young boys who go about chasing these girls should be part of the test to save them from contacting HIV from other nationalities. However the harassment continued. By placing sexual responsibility on the girls, virginity testing had ignored the gender dynamics contributing to the pandemic and had become part of the problem: After Amnesty International protested to the Egyptian government in March , [16] the government claimed the tests were carried out in order to refute claims that the women had been raped while in detention. Anthropologist Professor Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, formerly with the University of KwaZulu-Natal , has done extensive research on virginity testing in Zulu-speaking communities in Durban.

But not all teenagers are able to let themselves go this easily. Regions Africa Americas Asia-Pacific Europe Middle East Global Issues. Traditionally, although young girls were often tested privately in their own homes, the focus was not on the inspection - there was a high spiritual value placed on virginity, instilled through instruction by older women, Dr Queeneth Mkhabela-Castiano, a former lecturer in indigenous knowledge systems, told PlusNews. MOST POPULAR STORIES NOW.