Virginity Testing and the Politics of Sexual Responsibility: Implications for AIDS Intervention

In early August 2000 a small but vociferous crowd of teenage girls marched through the streets of central Pietermaritzburg, singing, chanting slogans and holding hand-written placards that stated “We are not being forced! ” and “Down with the Gender Commission! ” The girls were followed by a handful of middle-aged women, dressed in elaborately beaded out ts and conical hats typically worn by “traditionalist ” Zulu women. These were the abahloli — women who conduct virginity inspections on young girls — and together, they were marching to protest against the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) and the Human Rights Commission (HRC), who have condemned their activities. This incident — by no means an isolated one — re ects just how contentious the issue of virginity testing [ukuhlolwa kwezintombi] has become in recent years. Ostensibly an effort to promote female sexual chastity as an AIDS prevention strategy, the practice has drawn sharp criticism from observers almost from the beginning of its “revival ” in parts of South Africa during the early 1990s. Communities have been divided on the question of whether — as