Dignity and Bodily Integrity – Girls’ rights to protection against Virginity Testing

“A woman’s body should not be used as a tool for intimidation, and nobody should have their dignity violated.” Samira Ibrahim – an Egyptian woman who was forcefully subjected to a virginity test during the uprising in Egypt in 2011.

A virginity test is “the practice and process of determining whether a female…has never engaged in sexual intercourse.” (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginity_test)

Virginity testing is an old practice that seems to have been revived for fundamentalist reasons in recent times. In Nigeria a principal in a school in Nigeria, the Ajuwon Senior high school, in Ogun State conducted virginity testing on some girls in the school. One of the reasons for forcibly carrying out virginity testing is to instil discipline in girls and shame those who are found not to be virgins.

Virginity testing is a violation of girls human rights particularly their rights to dignity, privacy, freedom from torture and freedom from discrimination.

For a full article of my opinion that was published in the Nigerian Newspaper ThisDay, please visit this link: