Feminism at the margins: the case of the virginity bursaries in South Africa

Abstract

The practice of virginity testing in southern Africa has caused a conflict between advocates of culture and proponents of universal human rights. Recently, the ‘virginity bursaries’, also known as the ‘maiden bursaries’, caused an outcry from proponents of universal human rights, who declared the criterion (virginity testing) used for bursaries unlawful, discriminatory and unconstitutional. On the other side of the debate, cultural relativists defended the virginity bursaries by outlining moral and pedagogical justifications for virginity testing. The arguments by both sides highlight that it is not easy to resolve the discursive and ideological questions around virginity testing. As a result, drawing from Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of contested fields and ‘habitus’, the aim of this philosophical article is to explore the discourses that surround virginity testing – the cornerstone of the virginity bursaries – as a means of illustrating the conflicting positions within gender studies about traditional/cultural practices. Our aim is neither to provide an empirical account of the experience of virginity testing, nor to resolve the debate, but to explore some of the possible approaches to virginity testing and the major philosophical conflicts between human rights and traditionalist approaches.