When a KwaZulu-Natal municipality introduced an academic bursary for young women who can prove that they are virgins it caused an uproar earlier this year. The South African Human Rights Commission has reportedly now opened an investigation into the bursary. The practice of virginity testing has always been contentious, with several calls to ban it over the years. Each time, the same questions arise. How is virginity inspection conducted and by whom? Is it even possible to know if a woman is a virgin or not?

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Zulu maidens march against WHO's virginity testing ban
Comments powered by CComment. Testi, foto, grafica, materiali audio e video inseriti dalla redazione della Gazzetta del Sud Africa nel proprio portale non potranno essere pubblicati, riscritti, commercializzati, distribuiti, radio o videotrasmessi, da parte degli utenti e dei terzi in genere, in alcun modo e sotto qualsiasi forma. Sunday 8th Mar Zulu maidens march against WHO's virginity testing ban. Siboniso Mngadi - Daily News -. Maidens march through the streets of Pietermaritzburg against the UN intentions to ban virginity testing. Clad in their traditional outfit, maidens marched through Langalibalele Long Market Street in the province's capital city, while singing and dancing in support of virginity testing practice. This comes after a joint statement last month called for governments, health professionals and communities to act on eliminating the virginity testing practice. However, maidens who were led by Nomagugu Ngobese, a cultural activist and director of the Nomkhubulwane Culture and Youth Development Organisation, said they found it strange that the global organisations were deliberately imposing a ban on their ritual.
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The woman or girl coming for her testing would lie down and spread her legs wide open. The tester would then open your vagina like when you enlarge something on your touchscreen phone with both hands in the vaginal opening. She would look inside, apparently to see if your hymen see box on the next page was still intact, or if the size of the vaginal opening had been enlarged by a penis. Amanda Ndlangisa 26 is a producer at a popular TV station. Her experience of virginity testing was slightly different. Nana Buthelezi 25 values the procedure.
Umhlanga was created in the s in Eswatini under the rule of Sobhuza II , and is an adaptation of the much older Umcwasho ceremony. The dance in South Africa takes place in Nongoma , a royal kraal of the Zulu king. All girls are required to undergo a virginity test before they are allowed to participate in a royal dance. The girls wear traditional attire, including beadwork , and izigege and izinculuba that show their bottoms. Each sash has appendages of a different colour, which denote whether or not the girl is betrothed. As part of the ceremony, the young women dance bare-breasted for their king, and each maiden carries a long reed , which is then deposited as they approach the king.