By Carola Frentzen, Anne-Sophie Galli and Ralf E. Krüger
Jakarta / New Delhi / Johannesburg (dpa) – For newlyweds, the wedding night is not as private everywhere as in Germany. From India to Cambodia to South Seas paradises like Tonga or Kiribati, relatives are often impatiently waiting for a clear sign that the wife has only just been deflowered. The following applies: Only a bloody sheet is a good sheet. In Armenia, the tradition is called “Karmir khndzor” – red apple. In Nigeria, the new husband is provided with a white handkerchief, which is (hopefully) presented to the family after the act is bloodstained.
“In some regions women are beaten if they fail the” test “and their relatives have to pay a fine to the husband’s family,” writes sociologist Jagriti Gangopadhyay in an article for the Indian magazine “Down to Earth”. Even when looking for a job, virginity is assumed in some places: Until recently, female recruits in the Indonesian military and police had to undergo invasive “two-finger tests” in order to have a chance of being accepted. This had been common practice since 1965.
“It hurts terribly,” the Jakarta Post newspaper recently quoted one of those affected. “Some of my friends, who also had to endure the procedure, could barely walk afterwards.” With their chests bared, the candidates were lined up in rows – with obvious discomfort. One of the responsible military doctors was quoted as saying: “You’re in luck. When we applied, we were examined by men.”
After repeated criticism from human rights activists, the army in the island state has now announced that it will abolish the “Virginity Tests”. The navy and the air force want to follow the advance according to their own information. The women’s rights organization UN Women spoke of a “long-awaited milestone”. The organization trusts “that this will end discriminatory and harmful practices and that barriers to the participation of women in the armed forces will be removed,” said UN Women Representative Jamshed M. Kazi.
Because the hymen itself is more of a myth than reality: There is no membrane at all that closes the vaginal entrance, as is assumed in many cultures. Rather, in many women it is a kind of mucous membrane that frames the opening of the vagina like a small wreath. This is why the hymen is also called the “vaginal corona”. “Hymen”, ancient Greek for “skin”, is another synonym.
However, the shape varies. The hymen is sometimes crescent or sieve-shaped, or it is completely absent from birth. If there is, the thin fold of the mucous membrane can easily tear during the first sexual intercourse and bleed a little, but it doesn’t have to.
“Virginity tests have no scientific or clinical basis,” said a spokesman for the World Health Organization (WHO) of the German press agency on request. “There is no research that can prove that a girl or woman has had sex – and the appearance of the hymen of girls or women cannot prove whether or not they have had intercourse or are sexually active.” For years the WHO has been calling for an end to “medically unnecessary and often painful, degrading and traumatic practice”.
Nonetheless, every year in South Africa and some neighboring countries, thousands of girls and young women are subjected to examinations to determine their virginity – a tradition that is supposed to mark the entry into adulthood. Voluntary tests at the age of 16 and over are not prohibited there, provided that they also provide appropriate advice. Bare-breasted and hung with dancing, singing and traditional jewelry, they usually move to the scene of the action – although, according to critics, both voluntariness and advice are not always guaranteed.
Proponents of these tests – in which the girls are examined lying on their backs with their legs spread apart – see them as part of the African tradition. If the result is good, the young people are rewarded – for example by participating in the annual reed grass festival, as it is now again.
In order to guarantee red sheets and maintain their reputation, women in India are now even working with artificial blood. For example in the form of a pill that is inserted into the vagina on the wedding night and releases red color during sex. Or by means of a cellulose membrane in the vagina, which not only releases supposed blood, but also tears it during sexual intercourse. Because the fear is great: In the patriarchal country, men are said to have left their wives again shortly after marriage because the suspicion arose that their partners did not come into the marriage as virgins.
In many countries women now go even further and have an artificial hymen constructed in an operation. In India, the procedure costs between 200 and 800 euros, depending on the provider. “It has long been seen as a trend in larger cities, but now more and more girls from smaller towns and villages want to go under the knife,” plastic surgeon Jayant Dash told the Times of India.
Again and again, young women suffered infections or scarring on their sensitive genitals, according to the sociologist Jagriti Gangopadhyay. There are no general guidelines for the OP. Critics say most doctors are just trying to make a quick buck with “hymenoplasty”. According to Dash, when looking for customers, some clinics openly advertise that the operation helps to avoid possible shame and humiliation.
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