'Virginity Testing' in Indonesia

Earlier this week, I was shocked to read about Indonesian women who had applied to be police officers going through what is called, 'virginity testing.' Upon further research, I learned that this practice doesn't occur in Indonesian alone, but other parts of the world as well. The most common method of testing is called the "two finger test" in which two fingers are inserted into a woman's vagina basically to see how tight it is (in this case, the tighter her vagina, the greater likelihood she is a virgin). The individual performing the test will also check for the infamous hymen.

Not only is this test unnecessary, it is also very degrading and painful for these women. What I don't understand is the fact that the hymen itself isn't necessarily a telltale sign of virginity. For girls born with the so-called "normal hymen," they can stretch/tear/break their hymen from partaking in a number of random activities and guess what? They're still virgins! What about for the girls like me who were born with an extra band of tissue? I was a virgin with my septate hymen and a virgin after my hymen was surgically removed. If the absence of a hymen indicates the loss of virginity then I "lost" my virginity to my doctor while I was knocked out.

Virginity testing serves no purpose other than to humiliate and degrade the women who are subjected to it. In some cultures, virginity testing is used to determine whether or not a female is worth marrying. Believe it or not, males in other cultures may reject a woman if she isn't a virgin. It's sad to think some women will be rejected because they didn't pass the virginity test. I cannot believe we live in a world where such tests are even allowed.

Furthermore, being a police officer and being a virgin are two totally different and unrelated things. If a woman in Indonesia wants to be a cop why does she also have to be a virgin? I suspect virginity testing exists in order to keep women out of the police force as it usually is a "male job." If that's true then this is a bigger problem of gender inequality.

I applaud the women who despite the humiliating test are able to join the police force in Indonesia. However, these women should not have to subject themselves to such a test in the first place. I think more people need to realize the need for equality - not only in America but the rest of the world as well. We also need to respect the fact that a woman's virginity is private to her and shouldn't be exploited for the purpose of a job application.

For more information, visit CNN or the Human Rights Watch.