The Egyptian Army Promised To Stop Using Virginity Tests On Women. But It Hasn’t

Grim reading

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by Sophie Wilkinson |
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After a revolution, you'd think an army would have some important things to do. Brokering peace deals, building roads, um, making sure life is more peaceful for the citizens whose country was torn apart by protests. But they've also managed to squeeze in that old necessity; reinstating virginity tests for female detainees.

The army promised to get rid of the government's virginity tests after it was found that more than a dozen women had had gone through them after being arrested during the 2011 protests. At the time, doctors said that the tests – checking to see whether the hymen of the vagina is intact – were carried out to ensure women weren't being raped in their prison. But after some investigation (though, tbh, we could have told you this for free) it was found that these tests were degrading and being used as a punishment.

But, despite all of this, inspections of women's hymens – assuming that the only way they can break is through sex, which is totally not true – are apparently still going on.

'I don't recognise Egypt today'

One woman who underwent these tests while jailed recently spoke out about the humiliation and horror. 'I look around me and I see Egyptians who welcomed the police and the army to our streets,' she told Buzzfeed. 'They forgot what they did to us in 2011, and they have, like, amnesia for the virginity tests Sisi [Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the military chief lined up for the Presidency] supported for those girls in Tahrir. I don't recognise Egypt today. I am scared of it.'

Little wonder, then, that former Egyptian President Mubaak, who is currently facing trial over embezzlement charges, has backed Sisi for the next election.

Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson

Picture: Getty

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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