Virginity testing increasing
2002-01-30 11:18
Durban - KwaZulu-Natal traditionalists are reverting to virginity testing to control sexual behaviour and HIV/Aids but Western doctors and social workers believe it is a degrading custom that encourages the rape of young girls.
Gender and human rights activists are increasingly denouncing
the practice - the public inspection of girls' genitalia - while
stalwart community supporters are adamant they know what they are
doing and that Westerners simply do not understand.
A Sapa team recently visited urban KwaMashu, north of Durban,
and Dududu, a rural area on KwaZulu-Natal's south coast, and
discovered that the main reason for the testing was "to keep the
children on their toes", while its role in the fight against
HIV/Aids seemed to be a secondary advantage.
KwaMashu virginity tester, Nokulunga Majola, receives us at her neat home in the township's Section K. The authoritative school principal had lined up her neighbour, Zaba Dludla, and a group of about 10 girls to talk to us.
Majola explains that they use the virginity testing to teach
their daughters how to behave themselves: "They must start this
'jolling business' at the right time."
She repeatedly offers to demonstrate the testing method on her
eight-year-old but we decide not to take her up on that.
So, Dludla, a stout nurse and one of about 20 testers who
examine between 70 and 100 girls from ages four to 22 every month, then describes the process.
The girls lie down and spread their legs on "amacansi" (Zulu
traditional mats) at a secluded premises at Section E in KwaMashu.
Their mothers go along but no men are allowed to attend the
ceremony. The testers, wearing medical gloves, inspect a girl's
vagina to determine whether she is still a virgin.
"We look for the "ihlo" (eye) - it looks like a white dot. A
virgin does not have a hole, only a white dot. It grows inside the vagina of a girl. If you see a damaged hole, then it means that the white dot has disappeared."
Dludla says there are other secondary testing methods as well.
"At times you can see by looking at the back of her legs. If
there is an "imbobo" (indentation) behind the knee the girl is not a virgin. If the skin at the back of the leg is tight, she is one. If it's loose, it (the ihlo) is all gone."
Majola adds that one could also look into a girl's eyes to
determine her status: "But only the experts in virginity testing
can look at the eyes - the eyes are running around looking for
men."
They also use the testing to identify rape victims: "We know
that a four-year-old girl will not have sex, but maybe she is being molested by an uncle or her father. I have already caught out three parents and handed them over to the police."
The testers firmly believe this practice is the best way to
protect their daughters from teenage pregnancies, HIV/Aids and
sexually transmitted diseases but social workers, even in their own community, disagree.
A soft-spoken social worker at the KwaSimama Risk Behaviour
Centre in KwaMashu, Thembi Buthelezi, comes right to the point:
"Girls who are known to be virgins, become the target of rapists.
They know that it is safer for them to rape a virgin because then
they won't get exposed to Aids."
Her colleague, Sibongile Sibiya, says she had to counsel such a rape victim and would never take her daughters for "ukuhlolwa
kwezintombi" (inspection of girls).
"Sometimes it's pointless to take your girl because I've heard
that they can bribe the testers. Some girls who know that they are not virgins, put down R50 before the tests and then still receive their certificates."
The testers vigorously deny this.
- SAPA