Related Experiment Videos
Virginity testing: managing sexuality in a maturing HIV/AIDS epidemic
1Department of Anthropology, University of Natal.
Medical Anthropology Quarterly
|January 25, 2002
Summary
Virginity testing is gaining traction in South Africa
Area of Science:
- Sociology
- Public Health
- Gender Studies
Background:
- South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province faces a rapidly escalating HIV/AIDS epidemic, with 30-40% adult HIV seropositivity.
- Traditional leaders and government officials support virginity testing for girls, linking it to the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the sociocultural construction of HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
- To analyze the rise of virginity testing within gendered beliefs about the epidemic.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative research utilizing original data.
- Ethnographic study among Zulu-speaking communities in peri-urban Durban.
Main Results:
- Virginity testing is framed within beliefs of female sexual "out of control" behavior driving the epidemic.
- The practice is an effort to control women's sexuality amid rising AIDS-related deaths and orphans.
Conclusions:
- Virginity testing serves to manage the HIV/AIDS epidemic by increasing control over women's sexuality.
- This practice diverts attention from men's roles in the epidemic, which are largely ignored in public discourse.