Virginity tests for immigrants ‘reflected dark age prejudices’ of 1970s Britain
Home Office files suggest that at least 80 female migrants from subcontinent may have undergone such tests
Nice to have this outrage given an airing, and the prejudices about submissive Asian virgin brides noted as disgusting, but the article goes on for ages until it finally gets around to noting that even if the cultural stereotypes had been valid, the tests still would have been rubbish because:
(a) not all women have hymens
(b) non-virgin =/= married
How much confidence can we have that our own current regime for assessing various immigrants, especially asylum seekers, isn’t at least as ridiculously stereotypical in a variety of ways? It’s not exactly a transparent process, is it?
As an ex-DIAC refugee decision officer, I’m happy to detail the assessment process for those who arrive in Australia and by boat.
Rebecca, I’d be very interested in that. Does it fit in a comment, or is this better as a guest post?