The "virginity tests" are a sexual assault carried out by the state, designed to intimidate women into staying home. Authorities can then use the supposed "results" of the tests as one way of writing off those who do show up to protest as women of ill repute, and therefore as bad Muslims acting contrary to Sharia's principles, who have thus forfeited their right to protection.
The women victimized by this scheme could be charged with prostitution, or may have their reputations ruined and be set up for rejection by their family and friends, along with possible further violence.
An update on this story. "Egyptian court rules against virginity tests," by Mohamed Fadel Fahmy for CNN, December 27:
Cairo (CNN) -- An Egyptian administrative court issued an order Tuesday banning virginity tests for female detainees, months after several women alleged they were subjected to such examinations following a March protest in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
The ruling comes in the case of Samira Ibrahim, a 25-year-old marketing manager who took the country's military led-government to court in August, alleging she was among those subjected to the test after her arrest during the March 9 protest. She said she faced death threats after bringing the case.
"Justice has been served today," Ibrahim told CNN. "These tests are a crime and also do not comply with the constitution, which states equality between men and woman. I will not give up my rights as a woman or a human being."
But:
Aly Hassan, a judicial consultant affiliated with Ministry of Justice, said the order only affects the use of such tests in military prisons and on women in temporary detention.
"Those tests are not considered a crime or else the file would be in the Criminal Court," Hassan said. "It's the circumstances of the alleged test that may be in question here."
In March, the human rights group Amnesty International reported that Egyptian troops beat, shocked and strip-searched women arrested during the protest in Cairo and forced them to submit to virginity tests.
How many were abused in the custody of the army and police, and were then marked down as no longer being virgins? The treatment of Mona Eltahawy is not likely an isolated incident.
Egyptian authorities initially denied requiring virginity tests, but in May, a senior general who asked not to be identified acknowledged the practice.
The general said the tests were performed as a safeguard against the women accusing authorities of sexual assault, and he defended the tests.
Destroying reputations:
"The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine," the general told CNN at the time. "These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs)."
But Ibrahim said her treatment clearly showed the tests were meant to "degrade the protesters."
Sexual assault by the state:
"The military tortured me, labeled me a prostitute and humiliated me by forcing on me a virginity test conducted by a male doctor where my body was fully exposed while military soldiers watched," she said....
Complaining about "virginity tests"? In Islam, rape and torture of both male and female prisoners is, not only allowed, but, rewarded by the islamic god.
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/04/rape-and-torture-viol-et-torture.html
The duality of the Islamic "mind" is the main reason Muslims make no contribution to science, technology, or literature. The Islamic hatred of pictorial art and music eliminates those areas.
“In its entire history,” says Ron Banerjee,Canadian Hindu Advocacy, “Islamic civilization has contributed less to human advancement than a pack of donkeys.”
I agree.
AKA the "Lara Logan" test.
The mere fact of a "virginity test" being brought up, let alone officially considered, is supreme evidence of psychotic and otherwise multiply deranged nature of the gang of islam, related to the pschotics that were part of the mafia, and are present in so many gangs, and destructive ganglike cults, around the world. This again, represents no part of traditional real actual established religions from around the world.
Oh, yes, I know, in Austria, and around the world, it is legally accepted as a religion, but such fact does not mean any such place of such acceptence is correct, valid, and accurate. It is not true, never was true, but lazyness and pressure, allowed this travesty to occur. It needs to be reversed around the globe, wherever it is considered a religion, by the deceived and gullible suckers.
There is no honor, no moral or ethical fabric in the gang of islam, there had been more in the mafia, which broke even its own slightly higher level of creed, on occaision.
When your level of behavior is lower than any snake in the world, their is not anything to honor, as so many nations have done, by allowing this gang to be called a religion!
Article:
"Egyptian authorities initially denied requiring virginity tests, but in May, a senior general who asked not to be identified acknowledged the practice.
The general said the tests were performed as a safeguard against the women accusing authorities of sexual assault, and he defended the tests."
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Please excuse me, but I'm just going to ask what I think is the obvious:
What, exactly, constitutes a "virginity test"?
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I don't know. I wouldn't have any idea, being a man and a long-lost virgin, anyway.
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What do they actually DO to the women to test for virginity?
I know this is extremely "delicate", to say the least, but this is very disturbing and some clarity would be nice.
I can only guess, but depending on how clinically they try to dress it up, perhaps it has some of the trappings associated with a pelvic exam/pap smear, but with the ostensible intention of looking for signs of sexual activity instead. Perhaps they are also looking for whether a woman has been "circumcised" (mutilated) and passing judgment on her from that as well.
The real intention, of course, is to violate and humiliate the women, and they are at the mercy of what the army announces as "results" -- results which those present may have personally affected.
But the exact content of the exam, or whether they make it up arbitrarily as they go along, is probably something the army doesn't want to talk about.
Thank you for explaining.
This is an ugly, ugly crime against women. It gets my blood boiling, Marisol...
David Dowse wrote:
Please excuse me, but I'm just going to ask what I think is the obvious:
What, exactly, constitutes a "virginity test"?
..................................
Well, David—one of the problems with "virginity tests"—besides the affront of their being applied at all—is that *there is no objective, medical test* for virginity.
It can often be determined if a woman has given birth–but as to whether she is simply a virgin or not, not so much.
My guess is that they are looking for the presence of a hymen. But there are many, many reasons why a virgin would not have a visible hymen.
For one thing, an estimated 10% of girls simply do not have one at all—from birth. Then, many non-sexual activities such as pap smears, routine pelvic exams, gymnastics, the use of tampons, and that old chestnut horseback riding (or bicycle riding) can affect the hymen.
In a society where girls are physically active—as in the West—comparatively few may have a dramatic and bloody piercing of the hymen on their first sexual experience.
All of this means that, along with being horrendously insulting and intrusive, that the results of such "virginity tests" are entirely subjective, and can be used indiscriminately to humiliate and even prosecute women.
GI:
"Well, David—one of the problems with "virginity tests"—besides the affront of their being applied at all—is that *there is no objective, medical test* for virginity."
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That's kind of what I suspected, but again, for men, this is all very mysterious.
Thx. for the reply, GI.
Happy New Year!