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The member of the British Parliament who proposed the changes to the law, Richard Holden, spoke of being “tipped over the edge” after a radio story almost two years ago made him aware of these two inextricably linked practices that predominantly affect immigrant women in the United Kingdom.
“I couldn’t believe it was still happening or that nobody had taken it up,” Holden told CNN. “I knew I had to campaign to change the law.”
A government spokesperson told CNN that the amendments were evidence of a commitment to “safeguard all women and break down the pervasive myths that surround virginity and a woman’s sexuality.”
While the proposed changes have been welcomed, Britain has a checkered history with virginity testing. In the 1970s, immigration officers did not safeguard all women with the state conducting virginity testing on the same demographic it is now trying to protect.
The UK Home Office tested women as a means of immigration control and for this, a formal apology has never been issued.
The clearance interview
Balraj Purewal, director of the Indian Workers’ Association in the UK, remembers the day he learned about the violations taking place at UK borders.
It was 24 January 1979 and a visibly baffled young Indian man had come to the offices of the Southall Youth Movement (SYM) seeking help. The man told Purewal that he couldn’t fathom why his fiancée, who had just landed in London, was bleeding and seemed traumatized.
He explained to the young SYM activist that while he had been waiting for his partner at Heathrow airport, immigration and medical officers had whisked her away for a “clearance interview”. When she finally came out of the room, the 35-year-old Indian school teacher wouldn’t speak. “Something must have happened to her in the immigration room,” Purewal recalls being told.
It would take both men a few days to learn that she had undergone a so-called two-finger virginity test at the UK’s largest airport.
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Source : cnn
