Call to ban virginity certificates for Muslim women in France

VIRGINITY certificates are now quite rare in France, but there are still petitions and doctors who lend themselves to it, despite the fact that professional associations have strictly opposed it for years.

Those who require these virginity certificates are usually young women who are getting married, almost always outside of France, in their countries of origin. To avoid suspicions of the groom’s family, or to reassure the father herself, they prefer that a gynaecologist confirms in writing that her hymen is intact.

The French Government and the World Health Organisation – which ruled in 2018 – see the virginity certificates and test as something old fashioned and a violation of the fundamental rights of women.

However, there is no absolute consensus. Gynaecologist Ghada Hatem, the founder of the Women’s House of Saint-Denis, where they host abused women, thinks that the certificate can help some girls fearful of reprisals, which could lead to death, or brutal examinations outside France.

Hatem acknowledged that they are often not virgins but she issues them the certificate. According to the gynaecologist, today the consultation to repair the hymen – and pretend that the girl has never had intercourse – is more frequent than for a virginity document.

Living with the radicalised Muslim community is a colossal challenge. Islamist rigorism forms an ecosystem, a world apart. It is born from mosques, cultural associations, gyms, cafeterias where the hookah or water pipe is smoked.

“Our role is to allow Jews, Muslims, Catholics and Protestants, all those who believe in God, to practice their religion, but without closing their eyes to those who put faith above the law”, declared France’s Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.

President Macron, in the recent ceremony marking the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic, lashed out at “those who, often in the name of God, and sometimes with the help of foreign powers, want to impose the law on a group” and He recalled that “the Republic, because it is indivisible, does not admit any separatist adventure.

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