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Virginity Testing, History, and the Nostalgia For Custom in Contemporary South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2015

Elizabeth Thornberry Open the ORCID record for Elizabeth Thornberry [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract:

Over the past twenty years, South African civil society has engaged in an extended debate over the appropriate role of “custom” in public life, focusing on issues of gender and sexuality. The history of virginity testing in the Eastern Cape region shows that the nostalgia for custom points to the loss of sexual autonomy that accompanied colonialism. While the rhetoric that justified virginity testing in the precolonial and early colonial era was deeply patriarchal, the practice itself protected female sexual autonomy and provided protections that were undermined by the colonial legal regime and have yet to be effectively replaced.

Résumé:

Au cours des vingt dernières années, la société civile sud-africaine s’est engagée dans un long débat sur le rôle approprié de la “coutume” dans la vie publique, en se concentrant sur les questions de genre et de sexualité. L’histoire du test de virginité dans la région du Cap oriental montre que la nostalgie pour les coutumes indique la perte de l’autonomie sexuelle qui a accompagné le colonialisme. Bien que la rhétorique qui justifiait les tests de virginité à l’époque précoloniale et au début de l’époque coloniale ait été profondément patriarcale, la pratique elle-même protégeait l’autonomie sexuelle des femmes et accordait des garanties qui ont été affaiblies par le régime juridique colonial et reste à être remplacées de façon efficace.

Keywords

GendersexualitycolonialismSouth Africa
Type
ASR FORUM ON WOMEN AND GENDER IN AFRICA: PART 1
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , December 2015 , pp. 129 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2015 

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References

References

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CA SGG 1/1/372. 1891. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Kebasi, March 11.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 1/1/1/8. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Nyaniso. September 3.Google Scholar
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CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/17. 1893. Ralatana v. Mbi, September, 2.Google Scholar
CAD 1/TAM 4/8. 1882. Inelinganye v. Umfaza. September 13.Google Scholar
CAD 1/TAM 4/20. 1891. James Lukashi v. Foss Mzaki. August 3.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/42. 1868a. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Kwahluka, September 2.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/42. 1868b. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Solani, December 14.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/87. 1873. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Jack alias Yoli, March 12.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/118. 1876. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Taliwe, May 17.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/353. 1889. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Msikitete, June 5.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/354. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of John Christian, January 20.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/368. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Maxosa, July 8.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/372. 1891. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Kebasi, March 11.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/513. 1895. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Tetyana, October 22.Google Scholar
NA K373. 1912. Minutes of Evidence, Commission on Assaults on Women. Testimony of William Darley-Hartley.Google Scholar
Alliance for Rural Democracy. 2014. “The Traditional Courts Bill Is Dead.”Google Scholar
Artz, Lillian, and Smythe, Dee. 2007. “Case Attrition in Rape Cases: A Comparative Analysis.” South African Journal of Criminal Justice 20 (2): 158–81.Google Scholar
Berry, Sara S. 1993. No Condition Is Permanent: The Social Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Bokwe, John Knox. 1883. “Remarks on the Summary of ‘Kafir Laws and Customs.’” In Report and Proceedings, With Appendices, of the Government Commission on Native Laws and Customs. Cape Town: W.A. Richards and Sons.Google Scholar
Boym, Svetlana. 2001. The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Boym, Svetlana. 2007. “Nostalgia and Its Discontents.” The Hedgehog Review 9 (2): 7–18.Google Scholar
Breckenridge, Keith. 2014. Biometric State: The Global Politics of Identification and Surveillance in South Africa, 1850 to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruillard, Karen. 2008. “Zulus Eagerly Defy Ban on Virginity Test.” Washington Post, September.Google Scholar
Cape of Good Hope. 1883. Report and Proceedings, With Appendices, of the Government Commission on Native Laws and Customs. Minutes of Evidence. Cape Town: W.A. Richards and Sons.Google Scholar
Dlamini, Jacob. Native Nostalgia. Johannesburg: Jacana Media.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Carolyn. 1998. Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hassim, Shireen. 2002. “‘A Conspiracy of Women’: The Women’s Movement in South Africa’s Democratic Transition.” Social Research 69 (3): 693–732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendall et al. 1998. “The Zulu Goddess and Her Virgin Daughters.” In Millennium Girls: Today’s Girl’s Around the World, edited by Inness, Sherrie, 87–114. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Jewkes, Rachel, et al. 2010. “Why, When, and How Men Rape: Understanding Rape Perpetration in South Africa.” South African Crime Quarterly 34: 23–31.Google Scholar
Leclerc-Madlala, Suzanne. 2001. “Virginity Testing: Managing Sexuality in a Maturing HIV/AIDS Epidemic,” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 15 (4): 533–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leclerc-Madlala, Suzanne. 2003. “Protecting Girlhood? Virginity Revivals in the Era of AIDS” Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equality 17 (3): 16–25.Google Scholar
Lewis, Desiree. 2003. “Editorial.” Feminist Africa 2. http://agi.ac.za/feminist-africa-issue-2-2003-changing-cultures.Google Scholar
Mager, Anne. 1998. “Youth Organisations and the Construction of Masculine Identities in the Ciskei and Transkei, 1945–1960.” Journal of Southern African Studies 24 (4): 653–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mager, Anne. 1999. Gender and the Making of a South African Bantustan: A Social History of the Ciskei. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Marcus, Tessa. 2009. “Virginity Testing: A Backward-Looking Response to Sexual Regulation in the HIV/AIDS Crisis.” In Zulu Identities: Being Zulu, Past and Present, edited by Carton, Benedict, Laband, John, and Sithole, Jabulani, 536–43. Scottsville: University of Kwazulu-Natal Press.Google Scholar
Mdletshe, Canaan. 2010. “Virginity Testing Is Our Right–Maidens.” Sowetan 6 (September).Google Scholar
Mnisi-Weeks, Sindiso. 2012. “Regulating Vernacular Dispute Resolution Forums: Controversy Concerning the Process, Substance and Implications of South Africa’s Traditional Courts Bill.” Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 12 (1): 133–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moletsane, Relebohile. 2011. “Culture, Nostalgia, and Sexuality Education.” In Memory and Pedagogy, edited by Mitchell, Claudia et al., 193–208. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ranger, Terence. 1983. “The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa.” In The Invention of Tradition, edited by Hobsbawm, Eric and Ranger, Terence, 211–62. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ranger, Terence. 1993. “The Invention of Tradition Reconsidered.” In Legitimacy and the State in Twentieth Century Africa, edited by Ranger, Terence and Vaughn, Olufemi, 62–111. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Robillard, Benita. 2009. “Girls’ and Virginity: Making the Post-Apartheid Nation State.” Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equality 23 (79): 85–93.Google Scholar
Scorgie, Fiona. 2002. “Virginity Testing and the Politics of Sexual Responsibility: Implications for AIDS Intervention.” African Studies 61 (1): 55–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shadle, Brett. 2006. Girl Cases: Marriage and Colonialism in Gusiiland, Kenya, 1890–1970. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Spear, Thomas. 2003. “Neo-Traditionalism and the Limits of Invention in British Colonial Africa.” Journal of African History 44 (1): 3–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thipe, Thuto. 2013. “Defining Boundaries: Gender and Property Rights in South Africa’s Traditional Courts Bill” Laws 2 (4): 483–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Lynn. 1996. “Ngaitana (I Will Circumcise Myself): The Gender and Generational Politics of the 1956 Ban on Clitoridectomy in Meru, Kenya.” Gender and History 8 (3): 338–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Richard. 1999. Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thornberry, Elizabeth. 2011. “Defining Crime through Punishment: Sexual Assault in the Eastern Cape, c.1835–1900.” Journal of Southern African Studies 37 (3): 415–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sowetan Live. 2014. “Initiation, Virginity Testing, Ukuthwala, Umemulo, Ukuzila: Do These Traditions Make Sense?” Sowetan 19, August.Google Scholar
Swartbooi-Xabadiya, Zolisa. 2010. Attitudes and Perceptions of Girls in St John’s College about the Practice of Virginity Testing. M.P.H. thesis, University of Limpopo.Google Scholar
Vetten, Lisa, et al. 2008. Tracking Justice: The Attrition of Rape Cases through the Criminal Justice System in Gauteng. Johannesburg: Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, South African Medical Research Council, and Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.Google Scholar
Vincent, Louise. 2006. “Virginity Testing in South Africa: Re-traditioning the Postcolony.” Culture, Health and Sexuality 8 (1): 17–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warner, James. 1866. “Mr Warner’s Notes.” In A Compendium of Kafir Law and Custom, edited by Maclean, John, 59–112. Cape Town: Saul Solomon.Google Scholar
CA SGG 1/1/368. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Maxosa, July 8.Google Scholar
CA SGG 1/1/372. 1891. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Kebasi, March 11.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 1/1/1/8. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Nyaniso. September 3.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/9. 1890. Gangata Maxegwana v. Thomas Maxegwana, September 30.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/11. 1890. Silanda v. Mtakwana, December 5.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/11. 1891a. Mayimbayi v. Siko, November 13.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/11. 1891b. Sannav v. Vananda. December 8.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/17. 1893. Ralatana v. Mbi, September, 2.Google Scholar
CAD 1/TAM 4/8. 1882. Inelinganye v. Umfaza. September 13.Google Scholar
CAD 1/TAM 4/20. 1891. James Lukashi v. Foss Mzaki. August 3.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/42. 1868a. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Kwahluka, September 2.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/42. 1868b. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Solani, December 14.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/87. 1873. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Jack alias Yoli, March 12.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/118. 1876. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Taliwe, May 17.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/353. 1889. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Msikitete, June 5.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/354. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of John Christian, January 20.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/368. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Maxosa, July 8.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/372. 1891. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Kebasi, March 11.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/513. 1895. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Tetyana, October 22.Google Scholar
NA K373. 1912. Minutes of Evidence, Commission on Assaults on Women. Testimony of William Darley-Hartley.Google Scholar
CA SGG 1/1/368. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Maxosa, July 8.Google Scholar
CA SGG 1/1/372. 1891. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Kebasi, March 11.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 1/1/1/8. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Nyaniso. September 3.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/9. 1890. Gangata Maxegwana v. Thomas Maxegwana, September 30.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/11. 1890. Silanda v. Mtakwana, December 5.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/11. 1891a. Mayimbayi v. Siko, November 13.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/11. 1891b. Sannav v. Vananda. December 8.Google Scholar
CAD 1/NKE 2/1/1/17. 1893. Ralatana v. Mbi, September, 2.Google Scholar
CAD 1/TAM 4/8. 1882. Inelinganye v. Umfaza. September 13.Google Scholar
CAD 1/TAM 4/20. 1891. James Lukashi v. Foss Mzaki. August 3.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/42. 1868a. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Kwahluka, September 2.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/42. 1868b. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Solani, December 14.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/87. 1873. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Jack alias Yoli, March 12.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/118. 1876. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Taliwe, May 17.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/353. 1889. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Msikitete, June 5.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/354. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of John Christian, January 20.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/368. 1890. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Maxosa, July 8.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/372. 1891. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Kebasi, March 11.Google Scholar
CAD SGG 1/1/513. 1895. Preliminary Examination in the Case of Tetyana, October 22.Google Scholar
NA K373. 1912. Minutes of Evidence, Commission on Assaults on Women. Testimony of William Darley-Hartley.Google Scholar
Alliance for Rural Democracy. 2014. “The Traditional Courts Bill Is Dead.”Google Scholar
Artz, Lillian, and Smythe, Dee. 2007. “Case Attrition in Rape Cases: A Comparative Analysis.” South African Journal of Criminal Justice 20 (2): 158–81.Google Scholar
Berry, Sara S. 1993. No Condition Is Permanent: The Social Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Bokwe, John Knox. 1883. “Remarks on the Summary of ‘Kafir Laws and Customs.’” In Report and Proceedings, With Appendices, of the Government Commission on Native Laws and Customs. Cape Town: W.A. Richards and Sons.Google Scholar
Boym, Svetlana. 2001. The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Boym, Svetlana. 2007. “Nostalgia and Its Discontents.” The Hedgehog Review 9 (2): 7–18.Google Scholar
Breckenridge, Keith. 2014. Biometric State: The Global Politics of Identification and Surveillance in South Africa, 1850 to the Present. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruillard, Karen. 2008. “Zulus Eagerly Defy Ban on Virginity Test.” Washington Post, September.Google Scholar
Cape of Good Hope. 1883. Report and Proceedings, With Appendices, of the Government Commission on Native Laws and Customs. Minutes of Evidence. Cape Town: W.A. Richards and Sons.Google Scholar
Dlamini, Jacob. Native Nostalgia. Johannesburg: Jacana Media.Google Scholar
Hamilton, Carolyn. 1998. Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention. Cape Town: David Philip Publishers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hassim, Shireen. 2002. “‘A Conspiracy of Women’: The Women’s Movement in South Africa’s Democratic Transition.” Social Research 69 (3): 693–732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendall et al. 1998. “The Zulu Goddess and Her Virgin Daughters.” In Millennium Girls: Today’s Girl’s Around the World, edited by Inness, Sherrie, 87–114. New York: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Jewkes, Rachel, et al. 2010. “Why, When, and How Men Rape: Understanding Rape Perpetration in South Africa.” South African Crime Quarterly 34: 23–31.Google Scholar
Leclerc-Madlala, Suzanne. 2001. “Virginity Testing: Managing Sexuality in a Maturing HIV/AIDS Epidemic,” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 15 (4): 533–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leclerc-Madlala, Suzanne. 2003. “Protecting Girlhood? Virginity Revivals in the Era of AIDS” Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equality 17 (3): 16–25.Google Scholar
Lewis, Desiree. 2003. “Editorial.” Feminist Africa 2. http://agi.ac.za/feminist-africa-issue-2-2003-changing-cultures.Google Scholar
Mager, Anne. 1998. “Youth Organisations and the Construction of Masculine Identities in the Ciskei and Transkei, 1945–1960.” Journal of Southern African Studies 24 (4): 653–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mager, Anne. 1999. Gender and the Making of a South African Bantustan: A Social History of the Ciskei. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Marcus, Tessa. 2009. “Virginity Testing: A Backward-Looking Response to Sexual Regulation in the HIV/AIDS Crisis.” In Zulu Identities: Being Zulu, Past and Present, edited by Carton, Benedict, Laband, John, and Sithole, Jabulani, 536–43. Scottsville: University of Kwazulu-Natal Press.Google Scholar
Mdletshe, Canaan. 2010. “Virginity Testing Is Our Right–Maidens.” Sowetan 6 (September).Google Scholar
Mnisi-Weeks, Sindiso. 2012. “Regulating Vernacular Dispute Resolution Forums: Controversy Concerning the Process, Substance and Implications of South Africa’s Traditional Courts Bill.” Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal 12 (1): 133–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moletsane, Relebohile. 2011. “Culture, Nostalgia, and Sexuality Education.” In Memory and Pedagogy, edited by Mitchell, Claudia et al., 193–208. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Ranger, Terence. 1983. “The Invention of Tradition in Colonial Africa.” In The Invention of Tradition, edited by Hobsbawm, Eric and Ranger, Terence, 211–62. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Ranger, Terence. 1993. “The Invention of Tradition Reconsidered.” In Legitimacy and the State in Twentieth Century Africa, edited by Ranger, Terence and Vaughn, Olufemi, 62–111. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Robillard, Benita. 2009. “Girls’ and Virginity: Making the Post-Apartheid Nation State.” Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equality 23 (79): 85–93.Google Scholar
Scorgie, Fiona. 2002. “Virginity Testing and the Politics of Sexual Responsibility: Implications for AIDS Intervention.” African Studies 61 (1): 55–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shadle, Brett. 2006. Girl Cases: Marriage and Colonialism in Gusiiland, Kenya, 1890–1970. Portsmouth, N.H.: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Spear, Thomas. 2003. “Neo-Traditionalism and the Limits of Invention in British Colonial Africa.” Journal of African History 44 (1): 3–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thipe, Thuto. 2013. “Defining Boundaries: Gender and Property Rights in South Africa’s Traditional Courts Bill” Laws 2 (4): 483–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Lynn. 1996. “Ngaitana (I Will Circumcise Myself): The Gender and Generational Politics of the 1956 Ban on Clitoridectomy in Meru, Kenya.” Gender and History 8 (3): 338–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, Richard. 1999. Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Thornberry, Elizabeth. 2011. “Defining Crime through Punishment: Sexual Assault in the Eastern Cape, c.1835–1900.” Journal of Southern African Studies 37 (3): 415–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sowetan Live. 2014. “Initiation, Virginity Testing, Ukuthwala, Umemulo, Ukuzila: Do These Traditions Make Sense?” Sowetan 19, August.Google Scholar
Swartbooi-Xabadiya, Zolisa. 2010. Attitudes and Perceptions of Girls in St John’s College about the Practice of Virginity Testing. M.P.H. thesis, University of Limpopo.Google Scholar
Vetten, Lisa, et al. 2008. Tracking Justice: The Attrition of Rape Cases through the Criminal Justice System in Gauteng. Johannesburg: Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, South African Medical Research Council, and Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.Google Scholar
Vincent, Louise. 2006. “Virginity Testing in South Africa: Re-traditioning the Postcolony.” Culture, Health and Sexuality 8 (1): 17–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warner, James. 1866. “Mr Warner’s Notes.” In A Compendium of Kafir Law and Custom, edited by Maclean, John, 59–112. Cape Town: Saul Solomon.Google Scholar