The Taliban weaponize virginity tests to further oppress women
By Matin Mehrab*
In July 2022, the Taliban forcibly subjected a 14-year-old girl to a virginity test in Jawzjan province, as part of a systematic effort to further oppress girls and women in Afghanistan. Mariam* describes the experience as the most bitter of her young life.
She lives in a village near Sheberghan, the province’s capital. One day when she was leaving a restaurant in downtown Sheberghan with her mother and aunt when she was approached by a young boy who acted as though he wanted to be a friend and handed her a contact number.
They communicated via messages and phone calls for a few days, then, their call was abruptly disconnected. “The next day, a woman called me saying she was the boy’s sister and that his elder brother was also present. They wanted to see me and propose marriage for their brother,” Mariam tells Zan Times. “She added that he was sick and couldn’t talk.”
What Mariam did not know was that the woman was acting for the Taliban. Unaware of this, Mariam provided her personal details and her address. Two days before Eid al-Adha, the Taliban forcefully entered her home and arrested her, she recounts. They took her phone, which gained them access to all the messages and calls between her and the boy.
The Taliban took her to the central hospital in Sheberghan for virginity and pregnancy tests. Though she pleaded her innocence, the Taliban were unmoved. “After the tests, I cried a lot. The female doctor and police officers found that I was still a virgin. The doctor handed the test results to the female Taliban officers and said, ‘There’s nothing wrong. Try to ensure the young girl isn’t harmed further.’” Mariam explains. “Nobody understood how terrible I felt; they were just following the Taliban’s orders.”
The impact of Mariam’s arrest was significant. The teenager was eventually released after proving her virginity as well as with the mediation of the local clergies, but her life and reputation never returned to what they were before. In addition, her father is a respected cleric in their village who also worked as a farmer – in an instant, the Taliban destroyed his reputation.
In Afghanistan, a girl having an intact hymen on the first night of marriage is considered a sign of purity and a matter of honour. In many cases, often in remote and more traditional areas, the absence of the hymen leads to killings, beatings, and social ostracization of the girl and her family.
Virginity tests aren’t new. They are still regularly done around the world, including in Afghanistan, even though experts say such tests are not only invasive but also unscientific and medically unnecessary, as they can’t actually determine whether a woman has had sex. But in patriarchal and conservative societies where such “purity tests” can ruin reputations and get women thrown into prison on so-called “morals charges,” they are often used as a way to control young women and their families. In Afghanistan, there have been efforts to reduce their usage. In 2019, the previous government decided that a court order was needed to carry out a virginity test, though that step was not always obeyed by local officials or elders.
Since the Taliban took over, sources say girls are being sent to take the tests in private and public hospitals without court orders. A female doctor in a maternity hospital in Herat province, who asks Zan Times not to identify her, says such virginity tests are conducted almost daily at her facility, and she confirmed that the females endure these tests without court orders. “Since the Taliban’s takeover, the frequency of virginity tests has increased compared to the previous government, and approximately between 800 to 1,000 tests have been performed,” she tells Zan Times.
Though there are no reliable statistics on the frequency of virginity tests across Afghanistan, public health and medical officials tell Zan Times that the number of such tests have increased under the Taliban. Indeed, each of Herat’s 19 districts has its own central clinic, and one of the busiest sections in each is the gynaecology department.
Sources tell Zan Times that it’s the Taliban’s intelligence, police, and especially directorate of vice and virtue units who are largely responsible for ordering those tests. All girls or young women arrested by the Taliban, even if they aren’t accused of engaging in sexual activity, are forced to undergo these tests.
“In the last two years, close to 700 girls and women from various districts of Herat have been arrested in connection with various crimes. Most were released after a few hours, but around 200 were sent to prison after sentences by the Taliban courts,” A security source in Herat, who asked for anonymity, tells Zan Times. He explains that many of these young women and girls were arrested for theft, drug trafficking, outside marriage relationships, or running away from home, and in addition to other primary sentences, they were also subjected to virginity tests. So far, the Taliban have not commented on whether they issue orders for such tests and mandate their widespread implementation. However, according to this security source in Herat, the Taliban take a more severe approach towards sexual matters compared to other crimes.
Such was the case of Hakima, a 20-year-old girl in Herat province, who underwent an unwanted virginity test after being arrested by the Taliban. Severe financial hardship had pushed Hakima and her mother into prostitution after her parents separated and her father remarried. On September 14, 2022, the Taliban arrested her. During her arrest and interrogation, the Taliban treated her harshly and used derogatory terms like “prostitute,” “wicked,” and “unclean,” Hakima recounts to Zan Times. As well, they sent her to the Women’s Hospital in Herat for a virginity test, though she didn’t give her permission for the procedure. “At the time of taking the test, no one was with me, and I was very scared. I didn’t know about my mother, but I was happy that she had not been arrested. During the test, I was only afraid that the Taliban would stone me to death,” Hakima states. After the test result was announced, a Taliban court sentenced her to be flogged. She spent approximately two months in the women’s section of Herat prison and, after enduring 20 lashes from the Taliban, was eventually released on November 17.
While many of the virginity tests completed at the maternity hospital in Herat province are ordered by the Taliban, around half are ordered by families, the female doctor says. Around five or 10 females are subjected to those tests by their families each week. These girls are typically between the ages of 15 and 25.
The family of Mahbooba*, a 20-year-old girl in Pashtun Zarghun district in Herat, was forced to undergo a virginity test after she and her fiancé separated during their engagement period due to disputes over her dowry. Although Mahbooba had repeatedly assured her family about her virginity, they did not believe her. She said that due to the severity of the disputes, her family had her examined by a local midwife using traditional methods.
This test is common in Samangan province, sources tell Zan Times. In the province, Basira*, 20 years old, was forced to undergo a virginity test due to her husband’s suspicions on their wedding night. “Last year, we had our wedding party. On the first night of the wedding, it is customary to lay a white cloth on the bed to show everyone that the bride is a virgin and pure. That night, I had a bad feeling, I was extremely embarrassed, and my hands and feet were trembling. While there were two rooms full of guests, we were left alone for the night. We had our first sexual relationship. I was very embarrassed,” she recounts to Zan Times. “Suddenly my husband slapped me hard on the face and said, ‘Who have you sold yourself to? Who was your previous husband?’ I was shocked by what he was saying and he became angrier. He threw me off the bed and said, ‘You were not a virgin, you have betrayed me.’ I realized the white cloth had not been stained with blood and was still white. My husband left the room and told everyone that I was not a virgin.”
The virginity test performed by a local midwife confirmed Basira’s virginity, but she says the accusations as well as the treatment from her husband and family have caused her irreparable harm.
*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees and writer. Matin Mehrab is the pseudonym of a Zan Times journalist in Afghanistan.
