Sunday, October 31, 2010

Two fingers

I was speechless. In fact, I still am. Did you hear about the Indian finger test? Well, hold on, it's horrifying and it really is as awful as it sounds. What is it? The finger test is a rape test used by doctors to determine if sexual intercourse is being practiced. The doctor inserts two fingers into a rape victim's vagina to verify the presence or absence of the hymen.

So, let's rewind.

It won't be easy, but try to imagine you have just been raped— already an awful experience to deal with. Terrified your family will condemn you, you go to the police. The police say they are not convinced about your statement or story. Neither does your family. They want to know whether you were raped because you 'asked for it', or you were 'chaste' enough and truly a victim of rape. To determine the validity of your story, they send you to the doctor. While you are still enduring the mental and physical anguish and humiliation of the rape, you have to take a seat in the gynaecologist chair and let a strange man, a doctor, insert two fingers in your vagina to check the 'purity' of your most intimate female part.

The results are only multiple choice: it can be "two fingers admitted”, “two fingers easily admitted”, or “two fingers not easily admitted". These results can be understood as "used to" or "not used to" sexual intercourse. Of course, the two fingers represent the thickness of the penis.

I don't know about you, but when I read about this I couldn't believe my eyes. It is outrageous and unacceptable. This 'examination' simply can't be medically accurate for several reasons:

1. There is no such thing as a hymen;
2. Each and every woman's vagaina is built different;
3. Each and every man is built differently too: small penises, long ones, thick, thin and so on and so forth.

So for an Indian girl, it's all about luck. Judgement is determined by the insertion of two fingers by a man (suppose female fingers are thinner) in the most intimate part of her body, which will judge her for the rest of her life. Where is this going?

Well, I am elated to know the Human Rights Watch is calling for a ban; and a lower court recently ruled this rape test should be stopped. But although the Indian government prohibits the test because of its immoral nature and some hospitals have banned the test, the doctors and, more importantly, the people in India still see value in it.

Which is where we end up once again in the never-ending circle in patriarchal societies. No one wants to deal with women complaining of sexual harassment. Instead of acknowledging it is happening, and educating doctors on how to deal with this huge issue, or offer women support, women, again, end up being a victim for the second time.

Now, tell me, if you were an Indian woman, would you tell anyone you were raped? I wouldn't.