The title doesn't get much better when you read the article.

http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/09/07/rape-victims-forced-to-undergo-finger-test-to-gauge-their-sexual-history/

This is happening in India:

Quote:

… a doctor insert[s] fingers in a rape victim’s vagina to determine the presence or absence of the hymen and the so-called “laxity” of the vagina. These findings perpetuate false and damaging stereotypes of rape survivors as “loose” women. Defense attorneys use the findings to challenge the credibility, character, and the lack of consent of the survivors.

The article goes on to say that even though the Indian Supreme Court ruled that these tests are not admissible in court, many doctors still perform the procedure and lawyers still use the results to raise questions about the sexual history of the woman claiming rape. It goes on to give some really heart-rending examples of women who had the test done; one was found to be "habituated to intercourse" and thus her character was called into question during the trial; another was bleeding and still torn from being raped, and the doctor went on to decide she had probably been a virgin, which somehow led credence to her rape claim.

Quote:

The report points out that doctors conduct the exam with little concern for the emotional or physical well-being of their patients. “Inserting fingers into the vaginal or anal orifice of an adult or child survivor of sexual violence during a forensic examination can cause additional trauma, as it not only mimics the abuse but can also be painful.” In a sick twist, victims who don’t experience pain during the test may be deemed “habituated to sex.”

My heart goes out to the women in India who have to endure this barbaric examination. Rape is such a complete violation of one's own personal space, body, mind, everything; to have it worsened by doctors cramming their fingers into the victim's body to do some sort of arbitrary "looseness test" to decide if the woman is easy or not just is just... beyond words.

It kills me that something like this is happening in this day in age. Guess we all still have a long way to go.

UsaSatsui wrote:

This is not too far off on what a rape victim had to go through 30 or 40 years or so ago in -this- country. Maybe not physically, but a woman who was raped was subject to having her entire sexual history investigated and brought up in court.

30 or 40 years ago we still had the human decency not to cram our fingers up a rape victim's vagina to see how loose it was.

I'm not so upset about the sexual history being used against these women. In some ways that still happens here. What I'm horrified by is the actual examination they're conducting.