Moroccan Activists Challenge Controversial Virginity Tests, Citing Women’s Rights

The campaign, launched on Sunday, February 14, aims to prevent women from undergoing this "honor test" before marriage, by raising awareness through social networks on a taboo issue and which constitutes a "trivialized violence", said Betty Lachgar, the founder of the movement, who denounces this practice that tends to "condemn" the woman to be "either a mother, or a whore".

In Morocco, Article 488 of the Moroccan Penal Code gives judges and prosecutors the possibility to request virginity tests in cases of rape or aggravated sexual abuse involving the loss of the hymen. This is why, Lachgar specified, the campaign in Morocco will be accompanied by the hashtag "Stop488" to demand the abolition of this article.

According to Lachgar, these virginity tests, considered illegal in some European countries such as France, Spain or England, are still practiced by some complicit gynecologists, at the request of families who, failing that, carry out the "so-called two-finger test" themselves.

In 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) had launched a global campaign to call for the banning of these tests, not only because they humiliate women, but also because of their scientific invalidity, as the hymen can be broken through simple practices such as sports.