Egyptian general admits 'virginity checks' conducted on protesters

[Rey C.]

I don't even know what to say about this one...

Egyptian general admits 'virginity checks' conducted on protesters

Cairo (CNN) -- A senior Egyptian general admits that "virginity checks" were performed on women arrested at a demonstration this spring, the first such admission after previous denials by military authorities.
The allegations arose in an Amnesty International report, published weeks after the March 9 protest. It claimed female demonstrators were beaten, given electric shocks, strip-searched, threatened with prostitution charges and forced to submit to virginity checks.

At that time, Maj. Amr Imam said 17 women had been arrested but denied allegations of torture or "virginity tests."

But now a senior general who asked not to be identified said the virginity tests were conducted and defended the practice.

"The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine," the general said. "These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs)."

The general said the virginity checks were done so that the women wouldn't later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities.

"We didn't want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren't virgins in the first place," the general said. "None of them were (virgins)."

While I'm really sorry about what happened to Lara Logan, she has gotten (and will continue to get) LOADS of support - as she should. But I doubt that any of these women's lives will ever be the same... and what's worse, I doubt that all that many people will really care.

 

[Will E Worm]

"None of them were (virgins)."

Terrible. None of them could pass the test.

 

[Trident1]

Arab Awakening.......................

 

[mrtrebus]

Terrible. None of them could pass the test.

You would pass the test!

 

[Atar554]

Arab Awakening.......................

Yeah I agree. The "Arab Spring" is turning out like...

 

[Straight Shooter]

Virginity tests are very controversial and they are not necessarily accurate

 

[Atar554]

Virginity tests are very controversial and they are not necessarily accurate

Well my guess is they are using the old Hyman method which doesn't work...

 

[Straight Shooter]

Well my guess is they are using the old Hyman method which doesn't work...

That's my guess also since it's simpler. Another form of virginity test involves testing for laxity of vaginal muscles with fingers where they insert a finger into the female's vagina to check the level of vaginal laxity

 

[busaguy79]

Well yeah the 'virginity test' doesn't work when you are using a penis, guess its called 'the rape test' and those guys passed with flying colors!

 

[Will E Worm]

You would pass the test!

Thanks. :hatsoff:

 

[mrtrebus]

Thanks. :hatsoff:

:shy:

 

[Rey C.]

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the (pseudo) logic in the good general's explanation. It seems to boil down to: "To make sure that these women couldn't claim that they were sexually assaulted while they were in our custody... we sexually assaulted them while they were in our custody."

And as I see some want to use this to support their anti-Arab prejudices... just a couple of years ago the Israeli Defense Forces were accused of taking Palestinian women into custody, forcibly stripping them naked, taking lewd pictures of them and threatening to send the photos to their families, if they didn't give up the goods on who within their communities was supporting Hamas and acts of violence against Israelis. According to the story I read, they were kept naked in their cells, while male guards ogled them, and during "interrogation sessions" had electric shocks applied to their genitals and breasts. Yet, those are our "democratic, civilized allies." I'm so proud...

The point of me posting this was not to further anti-Arab (or anti-Israeli) sentiments or bigotry. The point was to demonstrate the barbarity in using rape, sexual assault and other torturous methods, that degrade women in particular and humans in general. Anyone who can't see how wrong this is (no matter who does it) probably needs a type of psychological help that I'm not qualified to give.

 

[grower_boy]

The way that women are treated "over there" really does sicken me.

 

[Ace Bandage]

I give free breast exams to well endowed women.

So... samesies? :dunno: