Tonight on SBS Dateline investigates India’s obsession with virginity and the archaic practise of virginity tests and how some women are seeking ways to fake their virginity to avoid exile and abuse.
Members of an Indian community called the Kanjarbhats, Aruna and Krishna are fighting to end an archaic ritual of virginity testing, which they say is still carried out in the community on couples’ wedding nights.
They say the tests are humiliating and degrading and can result in trauma and abuse.
“Right after the marriage, the newlyweds are sent to a room for intercourse,” Krishna said.
“When the girl enters the room, all her clothes and any piece of jewellery are taken off … and she’s checked thoroughly for any sharp object that could scratch the skin and cause bleeding.
“The family hands the boy a white sheet to spread under them while they have sex so the sheet gets spotted with blood. And if the girl is a virgin, there should be red spots on the bedsheet. The girl will bleed.
“When the couple are done, they ask those waiting outside to come in the room and check.”
If the girl ‘passes’ the virginity test, she is declared pure by a council of Kanjarbhat community elders. If not, she is declared impure and can be subjected to severe punishment, including fines, physical abuse and social exile.
The United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO) called for a worldwide ban on ‘virginity testing’ in 2018.
In a joint statement, the UN and WHO said the concept of ‘virginity’ is a “social, cultural and religious construct – one that reflects gender discrimination against women and girls.”
The WHO states that there is no evidence that methods of ‘virginity testing’ can prove whether a woman or girl has had vaginal intercourse or not.
9:30pm Tuesday on SBS.
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