Virginity testing protestor, Indonesia. An intact hymen, is considered a sign of sexual purity in Islamic societies
Young women in Egypt were forced to undergo virginity tests during the Arab Spring riots in 2011. People rose up against the Islamic extremist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, who took over the already corrupt Egyptian government. Women who who were arrested and didn’t pass the virginity test, were charged with being prostitutes. After the Arab Spring abated the practice of virginity testing by certain Muslim groups hasn’t stopped. The practice can be found in countries and communities around the world, even in the UK, according to the BCC which has uncovered virginity test kits at local clinics and hymen repair kits sold online. Not long ago a teen from Wales was forced to take the test before an arranged marriage.
Virginity tests are done before marriage to make sure that the new bride is a virgin. It is not done to men. And the test, according to media reports, are often done against a woman’s or a minor’s will. Now Malta, an island country in Southern Europe, located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Libya has taken a precautionary step in the government and has outlawed virginity testing.
Malta a tiny nation, with just over 500,000 people, cannot handle a huge influx of North African migrants as easily as wealthier nations such as Italy, say its government officials. Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri took a hard line on undocumented migrants at an Oct. 7 meeting with other European Union officials. Camilleri said that 70% of migrants who landed in Malta had been returned and that it was important “to send a clear message they have no right to stay.”
A preventative bill to avoid foreign religious customs?
Outlawing virginity tests seems like an unusual move as there are no cases of the practice on the island that she knows of according to Parliamentary Secretary Rebecca Buttigieg who announced the bill late in November. She did not respond to Green Prophet’s request for comment.
Buttigieg said in local Maltese media there is very little information and research on whether virginity tests have been carried out in Malta. There is no mention of virginity testing in Maltese law.
“We spoke to many people, but no evidence has come forward that the test is being practiced in Malta, nor has anyone come forward who has faced trauma after the procedure,” she said. “Having said that, this does not mean that the practice is not happening, and this is the first important step to show that this government does not tolerate sexual violence against women,” she told the Times of Malta.
To prevent any confusion to new immigrants who may be administering virginity tests in Malta, the country has created a bill to outright banned the practice. A virginity test is an examination of a woman’s or girl’s vagina to see if her hymen in intact to determine if she has had vaginal intercourse.
According to the World Bank, last year over 11,000 refugees arrived to Malta and the country is now working to send most of them back to their home countries, while inviting foreign workers from India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Bangladesh who are hoping to fill service industry jobs. Malta has received criticism for towing refugees at sea from Libya back home. Boats originating from North Africa are found adrift off the Malta coast, sometimes carrying several hundred refugees at a time.
In 2019 the American rapper TI sparked outrage after revealing he takes his daughter for a virginity test every year.
While it is happening in the United Kingdom, and not banned or illegal, anyone caught testing to confirm if a girl or woman is a virgin can be sentenced to up to five years in prison, according to a new legislation the government of Malta is proposing. About 20% of Malta’s population are newcomers to the island – migrants and refugees – and the government is worried that foreign practices such as virginity testing could be taking place on Maltese soil.
According to the 2021 national census, Malta hosted 115,449 migrants, accounting for 22.2% of its total population, representing the highest share of non-nationals within the EU. Migrants from Middle East and North African countries are arriving to Malta at record rates and the country is now being criticized for refusing to respond to distress calls at sea.
Nationals from Syria, Eritrea and Bangladesh were amongst the top three nationalities applying for international protection in Malta in 2022. The refugee population is mainly composed of Syrian, Eritrean and Libyan nationals.
Virginity testing is practised in Afghanistan. It is practiced in Syria. ISIS forced Syrian and Yazidi girls to undergo virginity tests before trading them in “slave bazaars”. After some escaped they were forced to undergo virginity tests to prove they were raped.
Virginity testing is performed by Bangladesh families in the UK. Virginity testing is practised in Libya. Virginity testing is practiced in Eritrea.
In Indonesia, virginity tests were only officially stopped in 2021 as a requirement to join the police and military force. Research shows that such practice is medically unreliable and invasive and it is happening all over the world. The WHO, the UN Human Rights, and UN Women have called for the ban of virginity testing.
Virginity testing is painful, humiliating, and a traumatic practice that is considered violence against women.
According to the WHO, “virginity, defined as an intact hymen, is considered a sign of sexual purity in Islamic societies and represents the honour of a woman and her family. The loss of virginity before marriage is still a concern in many other cultures too, such as Chinese and Mediterranean societies. In Jordan, as in many other Muslim countries, an intact hymen has such important social value that serious problems, crime or even blood feuds may arise if a newly married girl is found not to be a virgin.”
Sexually active Arab women in Muslim societies have workarounds, explain commenters on Reddit: Some avoid vaginal sex altogether and choose anal sex instead to keep the hymen intact. Or they get a hymen reconstruction surgery which is widely available in Egypt. See Like a Virgin.
One commenter wrote on Reddit that losing your hymen is a life or death question: “The sexually active woman does anal to prevent her hymen breaking for SOCIAL and NOT RELIGIOUS reasons, because if you get caught with a broken hymen or a less that intact virginity your life could be in danger. Plus, many of the sexually active Arab women are ex-muslim closeted Atheists that do not care about things being haram (which means forbidden in Islam) but care about staying alive.
However, I can confirm that most Muslim women are virgins up until they marry and are never sexually active in any way: the risk is too high.
Another commenter, who deleted their profile name continued: “This is why Muslim/Arab women always require parent’s permission to go anywhere, and the parents ask to know of their every move. It’s the typical, suffocating life-style of the average Arab girl in the name of “protecting her”, protecting her from becoming sexually active.”
Hymens as weapons of war
According to the OWP, “Bashar al-Assad’s forces are not the only enemy to Syrian women, ISIS is disrobing them of their human rights, as well. “Marry me or be my slave”; this is how ISIS groups threaten innocent women; whether they accept or refuse they are subjected to various forms of deprivation, threats, solitary imprisonment, as well several forms of torture, rape and sexual harassment.
Women who are not virgins are not worth much in Syria and this is why they may marry their captors.
Other women, such as the Yazidis, were forced to divorce their husbands and forced to practice “jihad sex” with different rebels of ISIS.
