Turkey to ban virginity tests

[Blackaxe]

ANKARA (AFP) - Turkish legislators are moving to ban virginity tests for women and introducing jail terms for those who carry out such examinations without legal permission, parliamentary sources said yesterday.

<snip>

The draft bans virginity tests except if they are demanded by a prosecutor or a judge as evidence in criminal cases, the sources said.

If a woman is subject to such an examination without judicial permission, the persons who have forced her to undergo the test and the medics who have performed it will be punishable with a jail term of between three months and one year.

Testing women and teenage girls has been quite common among the conservative and pious masses in Turkey’s rural areas, where virginity is seen as a matter of family honor.


http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_world_2534273_10/07/2004_44846

[aneerkoinos]

1. Great!

Turkey is making progress all the time. Old habits of patriarchal culture will die slowly, but it is important to send the right message through legislation. Even better that the legislation comes from the Islamic-democratic party.