Virginity testing is condemned by members of the Gender and Human Rights Commission as a form of gender inequality because it is only girls who are tested. But some virginity testers have started to test boys as well.

Dingizwe Ntshangase, a virginity tester from Zululand, reported recently on his technique for testing the virginity of boys, which involves urinating in the air, at a conference for virginity testers held in Richard’€™s Bay.

“If it goes straight up in the air, the boy is a virgin. If it sprays, it means that hot sperm has come out.”

Ntshangase also reported on another technique used by Zulus of old to test the virginity of young boys where “a good handful of flesh” four fingers above the knee indicates that the boy is no longer a virgin. This method of assessing virginity is no longer foolproof however, says Ntshangase, as a result of today’€™s modern diet.

But Andile Gumede, a virginity tester from Kwa Mashu, feels that it is unnecessary to test boys because “the girls are the ones spreading the [AIDS] virus, sleeping with one boy one day and another boy the next. Boys are also changing partners too, but not if the girls won’€™t let them.”

Gumede also points out that girls are tested because they are the ones “who will suffer with pregnancy. This is why we deal with girls, because they are the victims.”

At the moment, virginity testing for boys is the exception to the rule. By comparison, virginity testing for girls is fast gaining popularity as a HIV/AIDS prevention strategy.

So much so that the provincial health department of KwaZulu ‘€“Natal, while not officially advocating virginity testing, is actively involved in assuring that proper health measures are taken during female genital inspection. They provide rubber gloves and facilitate workshops to educate testers about female reproductive anatomy.

But for the majority of virginity testers, female reproductive anatomy as understood by western biomedical knowledge has little to do with establishing whether a girl is a virgin, says Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala, an anthropologist from the University of Natal.

Certainly, assessing virginity has nothing to do with whether or not a girl’€™s hymen is intact, says Leclerc-Madlala, who has conducted extensive research on the subject.

“For most testers, what is important are other features of the genitalia. The colour of the labia should be a very light pink, the size of the vaginal opening should be very small, the vagina should be very dry and tight, and what is called the ‘€˜white dot’€™ or ‘€˜white lacey veil’€™ should be clearly evident and intact.”

“In addition, a girl’€™s eyes should reflect virginity in that ‘€˜they look innocent’€™. Her breasts and abdomen should be firm and taut and the muscles behind her knees should be tight and straight.”

According to Leclerc-Madlala, many testers do not see virginity, or the lack thereof, as an absolute state. There may be “grades” of relative virginity.

While an “A” grade virgin is 100% virginal, a “B” grade virgin is said to be someone who “may have been abused”.

Active complicity in the sex act may mean the difference between a “B” or a “C” grade in the virginity test.

To be given a “C” grade for your virginity test is to be marked with shame and disgrace. In the words of one tester, the girl is now “like a rotten potato”.

Depending on the particular tester, the girl’€™s family may be asked to pay a fine for “tainting” the community. In those areas where chiefs host virginity testing at their kraals, the names of girls who have lost their virginity are given to the chief.

Some testers counsel those who “fail” the virginity test and try to impress upon them the dangers of STD’€™s, AIDS and pregnancy. But most testers interviewed by Leclerc-Madlala claimed that it is useless to do anything further for these girls as “it is too late” and “nothing will change them”.

Many rural women, says Leclerc-Madlala, see virginity testing as the only means they have to re-instil lost cultural values such as chastity before marriage, modesty and self-respect.

Regular virginity testing is also seen as a traditional African solution to the contemporary problems of HIV/AIDS, STD’€™s and teenage pregnancy. ‘€“ health-e news service