Virginity test in Egypt: ‘Indecent assault’ or ‘act of defending honor’?

Video footage has circulated on social media in Egypt showing a big parade made by a newly-married bride’s relatives celebrating her virginity after being divorced by her groom on the day following their wedding party in Sharqiya governorate, northern Egypt.

The groom divorced the 16-year-old bride, accusing her of not being a virgin. In Middle Eastern countries, especially Egypt, girls are expected to be virgins when they get married for the first time. If it turns out that they are not, it is considered shameful, and women could be divorced or killed by their relatives under the concept of “honor killing”.

In San Al Hajar city in Sharqiya governorate, the bride’s father brought his daughter to a medical clinic for a virginity test, and after he received the medical report proving that his daughter is still a virgin, he and his relatives made a procession celebrating her virginity.

Afterwards, the two families of the new couple held a discussion in the presence of many residents and elderly people and made reconciliation between the two sides.

However, the bride’s father was arrested on charges of “early marriage” crimes, as the criminal code prohibits the marriage of minors who are under the age of 18 years old, Cairo 24 news website reported on November 21.

The incident sparked anger among some social media users who see that the virginity test is an “indecent assault”, calling for putting an end to this practice. A Twitter user rejected the act, saying, “If this girl - for any circumstance - did not have a hymen, the end will be different or she will be accused of things she did not do.”

Also, TV host Lamis Al Hadidi, on her talk show Kalema Akhira on CBC channel, called for restricting “virginity tests”, saying that there is not a civilized country where a “woman is taken like a cow or a goat to be subjected to the virginity test.”

In Egypt, there is no law prohibiting or criminalizing virginity tests, because this act is rare and only committed by individuals in a few cases, Margaret Azer, former Deputy Chairman of the Human Rights Committee in the Egyptian parliament, told Jusoor Post.

“It is an individual act that does not require a law to criminalize it,” she continued, adding that the society is tightly controlled by norms, habits and cultural legacies that take a quite long time to be changed. 

Azer said, “It is difficult to say when exactly such stigma of non-virgin girls could end” unless all the concerned bodies and media raised awareness that being a virgin is not a sign of a woman's chastity.

Defensive action

Dr. Hashim El Bahry, psychologist and professor at Al-Azhar University, also told Jusoor Post that the society’s norms and habits regarding virginity cannot be changed, saying, “Our community will continue to revere virginity […] even virginity in the western countries was revered.”

He added that there are some western countries like Turkey where virginity is revered as well, noting that it is known that any UK king should get married to a virgin princess who is subjected to a premarital virginity test.

The professor clarified that the bride’s father subjected her to the virginity test to be able to hold his head high and say that his daughter is chaste. “What [the father] did was a counter campaign” to defend her purity, said Bahry.

Divorcing the bride on the day following the marriage is understood by the society as a sign that the bride is not virgin and was having sex with someone else, he said, adding that the father was forced to prove the opposite to the society and her husband.

The solution boils down to honesty, Bahry said, noting that a bride or her relatives should notify the groom as to whether she is a virgin or not, or if she had an accident that made her lost her hymen prior to marriage. He added that the groom should be aware that there are types of hymens like the septate one that cannot be penetrated through intercourse. 

“This indicates that our community has no sexual culture,” he said, giving an example that there are some teachers who abstain from giving lessons on the genitals for preparatory students because such lessons are seen by those teachers as taboos.

“There is a big problem that no one raises awareness of the marital relationship,” he said, adding that the husband should be aware of the sexual culture.

What does religion say about virginity tests?

The intimate relationship between spouses should be secret religiously in accordance with sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), said Ahmed Kuerima, professor of Islamic Sharia Studies at Al-Azhar University. He added that the groom or the bride should not reveal anything about their intimate relationship, Masrawy reported on November 22.

As for the virginity test, he is of the belief that it is unacceptable legally and religiously, adding that people have to be aware of this and break this social taboo.