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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CoolCartoon" data-source="post: 2419242" data-attributes="member: 6894">found an interesting article.....Say 'no' to virginity checkby Aditha DissanayakeAttention all men who are about to get married! Is it important to you that your wife should be a virgin on your wedding night? Would you agree to use the virginity test to judge her virginity?Of course you may not be the average male of the human species. But the chances are, if you happen to be between the age group of 16 and 29, you would say "yes", for that is how 76 percent out of 2,524 young men interviewed by the Family Planning Association responded to the question.What is a virginity test? According to the British Medical Journal a "bloody sheet". According to Dr. Mrs. Sriani Basnayake, it is a blood stained white cloth, accepted as a certificate of the bride's virginity. Most Sri Lankans believe virginity equals the patch of blood on the white sheet made on the night a man makes love to his wife for the first time. A virgin to them, is a girl who bleeds at first intercourse. "This is all wrong" says Dr. Basnayake. She defines a virgin as a girl who has never had sexual intercourse with a man. As the Medical Director of the Family Planning Institute, who but she should know.The female sex organ, like that of the male, too, comes in different sizes. Dr. Basnayake shows ten different models of the vagina altogether. At its entrance is the hymen - a thin elastic membrane partially closing the entrance to the vagina. It is this hymen which is supposed to tear at the first intercourse, which may or may not cause bleeding.Tea cups"How many cups?" an officer from the security forces, questions the Doctor. "Cups? What cups?" Re-questions Dr. Basnayake. "Tea cups. How many tea cups of blood should there be?" asks the officer, blushing furiously. Dr. Basnayake corrects his mistaken belief that girls suffer massive haemorrhage that may even necessitate hospitalization on the first night of their wedding, by saying "the bleeding that occurs at first intercourse may be very slight, just a stain. There may be times when it is considerable, but it is never dangerous."Even though 42% of the men interviewed wanted their wives to have the virginity test, (if only to please their mothers) they were grossly ignorant as to what a hymen is. Some thought it was like an egg or a balloon and should make a "bang" sound when it broke. There were also those who thought it was located in the ear (based on the Sinhala word Kanya patalaya) or in the bladder. Dr. Basnayake recalls how a young man had confessed, even though they had been married for a week now, he still had not contacted the girl's hymen. " How far must I go to find it ? Can you tell me the length in centimetres?" he had asked the doctor.MiseryIgnorance apart, the virginity test could cause untold misery to a girl. Namini (not her real name) with three more months to go before her wedding, says she can't wait till the first night is over. Her in-laws are insisting they want nothing from her, certainly not a dowry, but that she prove her virginity. She had come to Dr. Basnayake asking for a letter stating that a virgin may not necessarily bleed at first intercourse. She plans to pull the letter out should things go wrong. Meanwhile, a mother whose daughter had failed the virginity test says with indignation "There is nothing wrong with my daughter. She has never even looked at a boy before she got married. It's his fault. He must be impotent. That's what I told his mother and everybody else in the village too."Namini was brilliant in thinking of having a back-up (the letter) to prove her virginity on the night of the wedding. Perhaps, this is important because statistics reveal that 20 to 25% of virgins will not bleed at first intercourse, due to structural variations in the hymen. Moreover, a girl could have been born without a hymen. She may have a very lax hymen or the hymen may have got stretched or broken accidentally during vigorous physical exercise. "Hence, it is very important for people to be aware of the fact that a girl could be a virgin, and still not bleed the first time she has sexual intercourse." stresses Dr. Basnayake.It is ironic that, while good traditional customs like paying respect to one's elders, looking after them in their old age, are vanishing from our midst we should stick dogmatically to the idiotic.White sheet traditionThe virginity test. There are many who still insist that the bride carries a white sheet with her on her honeymoon. A test which is unscientific and unreliable as a fair percentage of virgins will not bleed at first coitus, should be abolished from our society for good.Till that day comes there are ways to get over the patch of blood on the white sheet. If your bride happens to be in the 20-25% category, if you really love her and believe in her, all you have to do is prick your finger, or stop at the butcher's on your way to the homecoming. But, don't be too generous with the blotch you make on the white sheet, for your kinswomen when they look at the results of the virginity test, may think you had cut her throat. <a href="http://www.dailynews.lk/2001/10/12/fea04.html" target="_blank">http://www.dailynews.lk/2001/10/12/fea04.html</a></blockquote>

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