Legislating Virginity: The Law and Ethics of Hymenoplasty and Virginity Testing
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.2218/plurality.10077Keywords:
Virginity testing, Hymenoplasty, Virginity TestingAbstract
According to Merriam Webster, the definition of a ‘virgin’ is someone who has never participated in sexual intercourse. This definition revolves around heterosexual relationships and the assumption that the intercourse will involve a person with a penis and another with a vagina. However, what one considers sexual intercourse can vary from person to person (for example, whether oral sex is included) and the definition incurs greater difficulty when linked to anatomy, specifically the hymen. The hymen is a thin membrane of skin near the opening of the vagina, which consists of leftover fragments of tissue formed during foetal development, found only in female mammals. The presence of the hymen still holds significant importance in most religions as it is believed to determine a woman’s ‘purity’ and ability to marry, an essential factor for their position within their community, due to the commodification of female virginity. Consequently, women often face violence when they are accused of not being a virgin, or are found to have a hymen which is not intact. Due to the gender binary being imposed by the concept of virginity, this essay assumes that most people with hymens identify as women, whilst still acknowledging that trans*, non-binary and intersex people can also share this anatomical feature.
This essay will discuss the cultural practices that encourage virginity testing and hymenoplasty, followed by an analysis of potential harm-reduction solutions with reference to the historical and religious background which places virginity as a gendered concept. Whether the measures put in place by the Health and Care Act 2022 are sufficient in preventing the violence against women which stems from practices surrounding virginity will be discussed in the context of the practical realities of virginity testing. This idea will be explored within the framework of the UK’s legal system with reference to other European jurisdictions for context.
References
Amnesty International. It’s in Our Hands: Stop Violence Against Women. London: Amnesty International Publications, 2004. [Online] Available from: https://www.amnesty.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Its-in-our-Hands.pdf.
Amy, J.J. "Certificates of virginity and reconstruction of the hymen." The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care 13, no. 2 (2008): 111-113.
Awwad, J. et al. "Attitudes of Lebanese university students towards surgical hymen reconstruction." Archives of Sexual Behavior (2013): 1627-1635.
BBC. "Hymen Repair Surgery and Virginity Testing to be Banned in UK." January 25, 2022. [Online] Available from: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-59960177.
Catholic Encyclopaedia. "Virginity." [Online] Available from: https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/virginity.
Charlton, T., Lewis, C.S., & Andrews, E.A., eds. Harpers’ Latin Dictionary. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1879. [Online] Available from: https://archive.org/details/harperslatindict00lewi.
Christianson, M., & Eriksson, C. "Myths and misconceptions: Midwives' perception of the vaginal opening or hymen and virginity." British Journal of Midwifery 21, no. 2 (2013): 108-115.
Cook, R.J., & Dickens, B.M. "Hymen reconstruction: ethical and legal issues." International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics 107, no. 3 (2009): 266-269.Crosby, S.S. et al. "Virginity testing: recommendations for primary care physicians in Europe and North America." BMJ Global Health 5, no. 1 (2020).
Department of Health and Social Care. Hymenoplasty: Background Paper. Government of the United Kingdom, December 23, 2021. [Online] Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/expert-panel-on-hymenoplasty/hymenoplasty-back ground-paper.
Freud, S. The Taboo of Virginity. 11th ed. Standard Edition. 1957. [Originally published 1918].
Freymeyer, R.H. "Rape myths and religiosity." Sociological Spectrum 17, no. 4 (1997): 473-489
Grimshaw, K.E. “North Africa and the Middle East”. In Women and Society around the World, 110. 2020.
Human Rights Watch. "Indonesian Military Finally Ends Abusive ‘Virginity Test’." [Online] Available from: https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/20/indonesia-military-finally-ends-abusive-virginity-test.
Leclerc-Madlala, S. "Protecting girlhood? Virginity revivals in the era of AIDS." Agenda 17, no. 56 (2003): 16-25.
Maharaj, A. "Virginity testing: a matter of abuse or prevention?." Agenda 15, no. 41 (1999): 96.
Merriam-Webster. "Virginity." [Online] Available from: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/virginity.Ministry of Justice. Ethnicity and the Criminal Justice System. 2021.
Narayan Reddy, K.S. The Essentials of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, 26th ed. Hyderabad: K Suguna Devi, 2007.
Olson, R.M., & García-Moreno, C. "Virginity testing: a systematic review." Reproductive Health 14 (2017): 1-0.
Opler, M.K. "Woman's social status and the forms of marriage." American Journal of Sociology 49, no. 2 (1943): 125-148
Oxford English Dictionary. "Hymen." [Online] Available from: https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/90187?rskey=x38kgW&result=2&isAdvanced=false#eid.
Redeker, C. et al. "The launch of Cancer Research UK’s ‘Reduce the Risk’campaign: baseline measurements of public awareness of cancer risk factors in 2004." European Journal of Cancer 45, no. 5 (2009): 827-836.
Roucaute, D. “L’hyménoplastie, une seconde virginité”, Le Monde, 6 July 2012. [Online] Available from: https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2012/07/06/l-hymenoplastie-une-seconde-virginite_17290 88_3224.html.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. “RCOG position statement: Virginity testing and hymenoplasty”. Accessed 11 September 2024. Available from: https://www.rcog.org.uk/media/qlxh3wro/rcog-virginity-testing-hymenoplasty-position-statemen t-august-2021.pdf.United Nations. Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners and Non-custodial Measures for Women Offenders (the Bangkok Rules). Sixty-fifth session, New York, 2010–2011. Available from: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/BangkokRules.pdf.
Saharso, S. "Hymen ‘repair’: Views from feminists, medical professionals and the women involved in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe." Ethnicities 22, no. 2 (2022): 196-214. https://doi-org.eux.idm.oclc.org/10.1177/14687968211061582.
Schlegel, A. "Status, property, and the value on virginity." American Ethnologist 18, no. 4 (1991): 719-734.
Shalhoub-Kevorkian, N. "Imposition of virginity testing: a life-saver or a license to kill?." Social Science & Medicine 60, no. 6 (2005): 1187-1196.
Sherwood, Harriet. "Shock over ruling that brides of Christ need not be virgins." The Guardian, July 16, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/16/shock-over-ruling-that-brides-of-christ-need-not -be-virgins.
Smith, E., & Marmo, M. "Uncovering the ‘Virginity Testing’ controversy in the national archives: The intersectionality of discrimination in British immigration history." Gender & History 23, no. 1 (2011): 147-165.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Centre. Statistics. Available from: https://www.nsvrc.org/statistics.
Tschudin, S., Schuster, S., dos Santos, D.D., Huang, D., Bitzer, J., & Leeners, B. "Restoration of virginity: women's demand and health care providers' response in Switzerland." The Journal of Sexual Medicine 10, no. 9 (2013): 2334-2342. Van Eck, C. Purified by Blood: Honour Killings Among Turks in the Netherlands. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2002.
Van Moorst, B.R. et al. "Backgrounds of women applying for hymen reconstruction, the effects of counselling on myths and misunderstandings about virginity, and the results of hymen reconstruction." The European Journal of Contraception and Reproductive Health Care 17, no. 2 (2012): 93-105.
Women’s Rights Project. A Matter of Power: State Control of Women’s Virginity in Turkey. Human Rights Watch, 1994. Available from: https://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/turkey/TURKEY.pdf
World Health Organization. "United Nations Agencies Call for Ban on Virginity Testing." [Online] Available from: https://www.who.int/news/item/17-10-2018-united-nations-agencies-call-for-ban-on-virginity-tes ting.
Wright, C.J.H. God and Morality. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003.
UK Public General Acts. Health and Care Act 2022.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Eve Coffey
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
