"No Virginity Test For You!'

...and, what a relief that would be. I wish every success to the Province of Quebec in Canada ensuring this ban. Since when does a Western Nation acquiesce to this medieval "service?"

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/10/16/robyn-urback-the-reluctant-case-for-physician-performed-virginity-tests-in-canada/

Robyn Urback: The (reluctant) case for physician-performed virginity tests in Canada ~ Robyn Urback | 16/10/13  More from Robyn Urback | @RobynUrback

The Quebec college of physicians has issued a warning to doctors to stop performing virginity tests — procedures that Collège des médicins president Charles Bernard has called outrageous and repugnant.

The tests, which involve a gynecological examination to see if the hymen (tissue over the vaginal opening) is intact, are usually requested by families of young women to guarantee “purity” for marriage, often in Muslim communities. Though requests for the so-called “virginity certificates” are most common in countries such as India, Egypt and Indonesia, they do happen here in Canada — though it is impossible to say how often.

There have been at least five requests for virginity checks in Quebec in the last 18 months, according to a Université de Montréal study, which prompted the response from the Quebec college of physicians. The College has been unabashed in its disapproval of  physician-performed virginity tests, rightfully denouncing the practice for its breach of professional ethics and general repugnancy.

‘Degrading’ virginity tests on women must stop, Quebec doctors’ group urges

Montreal — The Quebec college of physicians has issued a warning to doctors to stop performing virginity tests, a practice linked to bridal purity and family honour.

Gynecological exams for virginity certificates contravene the profession’s code of ethics on several grounds, including breaching patient confidentiality, said Charles Bernard, president of the Collège des médecins, in an interview.

The practise is outrageous, repugnant, irrelevant and unacceptable, he said.

Continue reading…

It’s the correct stand. Physician associations across Canada should join Quebec’s in its rejection of the practice, which legitimizes an oppressive and backward system of “honour”. Symbolically, it’s a no-brainer.

But associations must tread lightly with any move beyond a warning. According to the Université de Montréal study, some doctors have admitted to issuing fake statements of virginity to protect the welfare of their patients. With high-profile stories of young women in Canada being injured or killed in the name of “honour,” it’s easy to see why doctors would opt to do so.

With that in mind, it’s clear that the practice of requesting virginity certificates cannot be righted by a blanket refusal to perform examinations. Families that are adamantly in pursuit of confirmation of their daughters’ “purity” will simply resort to other means — examinations from friends, family members or worse, religious leaders, all of whom are less likely to offer false proof of chastity in the interest of the girls’ well-being. Never mind the fact that, as most seventh-graders with a sex-ed textbook know, a broken hymen is not necessarily an indication of lost virginity.

The situation thus becomes a type of pick-your-poison scenario, whereby physicians either engage and entertain a backward request in order to protect the physical and mental welfare of their female patients, or else refuse to co-operate and thus leave young women to contend with their families without proof of chastity. There’s no easy answer.

The private medical community in Canada has waded into the arena by offering hymen restoration surgeries — called hymenoplasties — at a cost of several thousand dollars per procedure. These surgeries repair or replace a woman’s hymen with the intention of causing bleeding during the first attempt at intercourse after marriage (thus “proof” of virginity). Not covered by provincial health plans, these procedures are paid out of pocket, usually secretively, and are not tracked by provincial ministries of health or the Canadian Institute for Health Information. So we don’t know how often, but they certainly do happen.

The performing of hymenoplasties can be derided on the same basis as is issuing chastity certificates; that is, they engage with and enable a backward, regressive system that judges  a woman’s worth by her purity. On the other hand, from a harm reduction perspective, hymen restoration surgery is an invaluable option for women who might face censure (or much worse) from their families for failing to remain “pure” before marriage. Prohibiting the procedure would leave these women with few viable options (save for a $30 mail-in hymen restoration kit — and yes, that does exist). Again, there is no easy answer.

While it’s  fair for organizations such as the Quebec college of physicians to position itself as ethically opposed to virginity testing, the consequences of moving beyond a warning may actually hurt the people the College aims to protect. A doctor may very well refuse to perform a virginity test — whether he or she is backed by explicit regulations or not — but doing so certainly won’t shake the foundations of an honour system predicated on strict chastity. It will just move it underground. And with the general well-being of these girls and women in mind, maybe it’s better that we keep things above ground.

National Post: http://www.nationalpost.com/index.html

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Related link re. Hymenoplasty  (or Labiaplasty): http://www.disruptivewomen.net/2009/03/18/hymenoplasty-and-designer-vaginal-labiaplasty-necessary-cosmetic-or-mutilation/

(muslimas and their Mamas and Pappas hide behind this logic. ^^)