In some parts of the world, the criteria for declaring a woman a virgin is the result of the virginity test, carried out on her wedding night.
This test is known as the virginity proof of blood test.
The wedding night is supposed to be an intimate special night, shared, between the newly married couple. However in some African traditions, it is the judgement night for the woman to determine if she is a virgin or not.
A white sheet is placed over the bed the couple would share, so that after the marriage is consummated through sexual intercourse, the stains on the sheet would serve as evidence of the womans virginity.
If there are blood stains, the bride is pronounced a virgin and celebrated, but if not, she will be castigated and declared promiscuous.
Should this test be a true mark of female virginity?
Would you say this is a fair judgement or cruelty?
To answer this, lets look at the following questions and their associated answers:
What does the blood signify? -It signifies the breaking of the hymen, which is the thin membrane covering the entrance to the vagina.
It is believed that the hymen can only be broken during the first penetration of the penis into the vagina; this is associated with pain and bleeding.
The untold fact about the hymen is, there are different ways it can be broken other than through sexual intercourse. Some of these are- riding a bike, doing strenuous sports/exercise, or putting things in the vagina (like tampon, or medical equipment during certain procedures).
For some people, they are born with holes in their hymen, while others have so little hymenal tissue that it seems they have no hymen at all.
Hence, not everyone experiences the pain and bleeding associated with the breaking of the hymen during their first sexual intercourse.
Who is a virgin? - A virgin is generally defined as one who has never had sexual intercourse or engaged in any sexual activity.
Sexual activities can imply oral sex, anal sex and vaginal sex. To put this in perspective, can a lady who engages in anal or oral sex be termed a virgin because there has been no penetration of a penis into her vagina to break her hymen? Does having a hymen mean she is a virgin?
What of victims of circumstance? - We hear regularly in the news of children being molested and adults raped, would it be fair to pronounce such ones as promiscuous because they failed the virginity proof of blood test?
Many people have accepted that sexual assault is not sex, because, it is only sex when there is a mutual agreement or consent between both parties.
So going back to our question, would you say the virginity proof of blood test is fair judgement in proclaiming a woman a virgin?................ Absolutely Nooooo!!!!!!!
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