Virginity tests are back. Lawyer Yasemin Öz and President of the Education and Science Workers Union (Eğitim-Sen) Zübeyde Kılıç think this practice victimizes the girls and the female students.
A principle of a dormitory forced a father to get a virginity report for her daughter C.G. who is a university student (18 years old) in Avcılar Istanbul. The incident happened when the principle of the dormitory where the said university student was staying called her father and told him that he should come and get her daughter, on the grounds that the reddish marks around her face and neck were obvious signs of a sexual relationship. The father had to come and take two virginity reports for her daughter from two different hospitals. The father said he was going to file a complaint.
A similar incident took place in another private student dormitory in Beşiktaş, Istanbul, when an official from the District Education Board visited the dorm. Thirty girls were picked randomly by the official and asked questions regarding the dormitory, if there were pregnant girls, if they were drinking, getting drunk and yelling on the streets, and if boys were coming to the dormitory.
“Not protecting the women asking for protection, but playing the role of a chastity police”
Lawyer Öz says the victimized students should file complaints.
“Unfortunately, in these kinds of crimes, complaints are required. Therefore there needs to be complaints. On the other hand, both the society and the police are still taking the old Penal Code into consideration. According to the law, forcing virginity tests is illegal. The government is not trying to make sure if the new revisions are being implemented. Acting as an intermediary in prostitution is the only crime. They have no right to act even if they receive any information about it. So we keep filing suits.”
Öz pointed out to the fact that in the case when the girl is found not to be a virgin, the girl will be in big trouble, while the dorm principle will not be accountable.
“Moreover while the sexually abused girls have asked for protection countless times, how convincing is trying to protect the dorm students from indecent behaviour in a country where wives are being shot by their husbands?
Eğitim-Sen will make a criminal complaint
Eğitim-Sen president Kılıç says they will file a criminal complaint in coming days and he thinks that it cannot be a coincidence that the virginity discussion is taking place at the time of the Justice and Development Party (AKP).
“The girls become victimized. First of all, the girls themselves experience traumas. In a country where girls are already having difficulties in getting education, this makes it even more difficult.”
According to Kılıç, there are more important problems in the dorms. Most of them have infrastructure problems. (EZÖ/TB)
