Virginity check? WHY!!!

[Tairbear]

I have the YOUGOV survey app

And this morning I'm alarmed by this question... can anyone shed some light on why this service maybe needed? Under what circumstances? It's honestly floored me

[carolebaskinfedhimtothetigers]

@Sparklfairy @MedusasBadHairDay ah crap so it is, looks like me and OP both voted the wrong way then!

[SophocIestheFox]

Vile, vile misogyny through and through. It’s quite popular in a Gulf state I used to live in, as are operations to replace a “lost” hymen.

Shows quite a bonkers lack of understanding of what the female body actually looks like and how it works. I broke mine horse riding when I was 10.

It should absolutely be banned, but more importantly we should all be pointing out how backwards it is at every opportunity.

[NewlyGranny]

No NHS clinic should be offering that sort of 'test'! And it should be banned in private clinics, too, though no doubt it would be ridiculously easy to get round such a ban.

People should know that not every girl is born with a hymen and that a score of oridnary activities - horse-riding, gymnastics, athletics - can rupture them, not to mention tampon use. What are the consequences for young women who 'fail' the test?!

[LadyWaiting]

I would have clicked on Strongly oppose as I read the question incorrectly as others have pointed out.

[HecatesCats]

Shows quite a bonkers lack of understanding of what the female body actually looks like and how it works

And how powerful sexist convictions can be.

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

@Hulo

Hmm. Do you reckon this examination would be done on the grounds of biological sex or gender identity?

It's an examination to check whether the human is intact, so it would only apply to people with a hymen.

I do try to see both sides of the trans debate, but I don't think it helps when people try to drag it into threads that have nothing to do with trans issues.

[ClinkeyMonkey]

I'm not keen on how that BBC article is worded. I would question whether women* are being offered* this test. It's more likely that they are forced or feel pressurised to take it. The idea that the service is offered to women suggests that they make a choice to have it - like choosing to have a manicure or lip fillers or the flu jab.

That aside, I don't care what people's religious practices are - this is a disgraceful indignity to subject any woman or girl to. Once again, something which makes women feel less, wanting, and inferior.

[ClinkeyMonkey]

Sorry, bold fail!!

... whether women are being offered ...

[JesusInTheCabbageVan]

*It's an examination to check whether the HYMEN is intact. Not human, obviously.

[Imnobody4]

The BBC identified 21 clinics and managed to make inquiries with 16 of them, seven confirmed they offer "virginity testing" and several others would not clarify their position.

All said they would carry out hymen-repair surgery, which costs in the region of £1,500 to £3,000. Data from NHS England shows 69 hymen-repair procedures have been carried out in the past five years.

Medicine has become an ethics free zone. I'm sure some will say it's all to protect women from abuse but they should be educating that virginity tests are unscientific and shouting about this misogyny instead of just pocketing the money.

[MammothMashup]

Wtf?!

[MammothMashup]

This is sexual assault.

[TheSpottedZebra]

That's a badly phrased question - it would be easy to miss the words "a ban" and respond the opposite way to your real views.

So much this! This question has clearly not been written by anyone with an ounce of experience, or knowledge of research. Which makes me question the motives yet more.

[Respectabitch]

I would question whether women are being offered this test. It's more likely that they are forced or feel pressurised to take it.

Well, the clinics are offering the test. (If they deserve to be called "clinics".) They aren't the ones pressuring the women - that would be their families and the men in their lives.

[93daisy]

Is there a way to report/feedback on the question on the app you have just to highlight that it should be rewritten to avoid confusion and people who oppose potentially answering in a supporting way. It would be terrible if the data was used to support 'a need/want' for such services that could put women at risk of honour killings, violence or being disowned even if they have not had sex (not that it should even matter if if they have as this is no person other than the woman's business anyway). I do also see another posters point about if it wasnt in clinics it would be in someones living room secretly, I suppose one additional benefit of occuring in clinics means there is more chance for professionals to raise safeguarding concerns though I feel that providing this on NHS/clinics is normalising the inspection as it makes it appear acceptable which it should not be.

[endofthelinefinally]

Exactly.
The test is offered to men so thst men can force women to take it.

[Kantastic]

I am wondering if it was phrased in a confusing way on purpose so that they could manufacture evidence of people supporting "virginity tests."

Maybe YouGov wouldn't do that? I have very little faith in any institutions these days.

[mads2750]

@Respectabitch

That's a badly phrased question - it would be easy to miss the words "a ban" and respond the opposite way to your real views.

(/methodology nerd)

I totally did this!

[mads2750]

@93daisy

Is there a way to report/feedback on the question on the app you have just to highlight that it should be rewritten to avoid confusion and people who oppose potentially answering in a supporting way. It would be terrible if the data was used to support 'a need/want' for such services that could put women at risk of honour killings, violence or being disowned even if they have not had sex (not that it should even matter if if they have as this is no person other than the woman's business anyway). I do also see another posters point about if it wasnt in clinics it would be in someones living room secretly, I suppose one additional benefit of occuring in clinics means there is more chance for professionals to raise safeguarding concerns though I feel that providing this on NHS/clinics is normalising the inspection as it makes it appear acceptable which it should not be.

I've reported it through the website 'contact us' button

[ErrolTheDragon]

That's awful - both that this ludicrous, meaningless, degrading, 100% misogynistic and controlling test isn't already banned in the U.K., but also that the survey question was so badly worded - either someone who didn't really care about girls and women, or deliberately misleading.

[Respectabitch]

@ErrolTheDragon

That's awful - both that this ludicrous, meaningless, degrading, 100% misogynistic and controlling test isn't already banned in the U.K., but also that the survey question was so badly worded - either someone who didn't really care about girls and women, or deliberately misleading.

It's much more likely that somebody junior had a load of survey questions to turn out today and failed to realise how easy it was to misread this one. Hanlon's Razor. I'm not saying that surveys aren't often run with the express purpose of getting a statistic to peg a campaign or article to, but writing confusingly phrased questions like this isn't really how you'd go about it, because some people will read it right and some wrong so it'll end up so muddled it gives you no clear result either way.

[ClinkeyMonkey]

@Respectabitch
Yes, you're right of course.

[VulvaPerson]

Don't see the needed. Plus obviously hymen can break without any sex being had. So some women will be 'accused' of not being virgins, just because they use tampons or something.

[scrivette]

Oh... I did the survey really quickly and completely misread the question.

[Duckwit]

How is this not already totally illegal?