Virgin cleansing myth

The virgin cleansing myth (other names are virgin cure myth, virgin rape myth, or simply virgin myth) is the belief that having sex with a virgin girl cures a man of  sexually transmitted diseases.

Anthropologist Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala says the myth is a potential factor in infant rape by HIV-positive men in South Africa. Young girls are often subject to rape, because they are thought to be virgins because of their age. Sometimes, people with disabilities are raped, because the rapist thinks that because of their disability, these people do not have sex and are therefore virgins.

 History 
The myth was first reported in 16th-century Europe; it became widely known in 19th-century Victorian England as a cure for syphilis and gonorrhea among other sexually transmitted diseases. The origin is unknown, but historian Hanne Blank writes that the idea may have evolved from Christian legends of virgin–martyrs, whose purity served as a form of protection in battling demons.

 Prevalence 
People all over the world have heard this myth, including in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas.

A survey by the University of South Africa (UNISA) in South Africa found that 18 percent of workers thought that having sex with a virgin cures HIV/AIDS. An earlier study in 1999 by sexual health educators in Gauteng reported that 32 percent of the people taking part in the survey believed the myth.

According to Betty Makoni of the Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe, traditional healers carry on the myth, because they  tell HIV-positive men that having sex with a virgin can cure HIV/AIDS. In Zimbabwe, some people also believe that the blood produced by raping a virgin will cleanse the infected person's blood of the disease.

In 2002, psychologist Mike Earl-Taylor wrote that the virgin cure myth may explain the rise in child or infant rapes in South Africa, which is facing an HIV/AIDS epidemic.Earl-Taylor, Mike (2002). . Science in Africa. Archived from the original  on 2012-01-15. Retrieved 2011-12-31. UNICEF has attributed the rape of hundreds of girls to the virgin cleansing myth.

There have been no studies to find out how common the myth is, and how many people get raped because of this belief. Researchers Rachel Jewkes and Helen Epstein say that the belief does not drive HIV infection or child sexual abuse in Africa. "In the current South African case, this claim is predicated on racist assumptions about the amorality of African men..." A study done on convicted sex offenders in Malawi also did not find any evidence   to support the idea  that the virgin cleansing myth prompted any rapes.

 Importance of education 
Because peolple do not know about HIV and the AIDS infection, this causes problems with preventing it in many countries in Africa.

Education has helped women such as Betty Makoni speak out against the myth and attempt to dissuade people from believing the virgin cleansing myth.

 References 

Category:Child sexual abuse
Category:Rape