Egyptian Virginity Tests, America's Shaming Wand and Trudeau's Satire - Forbes

Egyptian Virginity Tests, America's Shaming Wand and Trudeau's Satire - Forbes:

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Shaming, Virginity Tests and Reproductive Freedom

Shaming, considered one the most painful constellations of human emotion, is also one of the most effective “contentious” dispute resolution tactics, i.e., a strategy whose purpose is to force someone to do something they don’t want to do or stop them from doing what they do want to do.

America is big on shame, particularly when it comes to women’s sexuality.

That’s what Rush Limbaugh was doing when he publicly berated a Georgetown law student as a “slut” and a “prostitute” for giving Congressional testimony on Georgetown’s  exclusion of contraception benefits from the health care coverage she pays for.

A coincidence in timing, the acquittal by an Egyptian military court of an army doctor accused of performing “virginity tests” on young women demonstratorsis also a coincidence of morality.

As the New York Times reported this morning,

A civilian administrative court already concluded in late December that the military had, in fact, wrongly forced several women to undergo the tests. But its authority did not extend to holding officers accountable, and human rights advocates said that Sunday’s verdict showed the flaws in military justice.

Women’s Right to Bodily Autonomy

In all of these cases – virginity tests, government mandated transvaginal ultrasounds and public shaming of women demanding contraception coverage in their private health care plans – the State and its civic institutions are following a script as old as the Bible.