“Whose Human Rights Anyway?” Post-colonial Perspectives of Being Intombi (Virgin) in Contemporary South Africa

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores how izintombi (virgins) in the Zulu culture make sense of being young, Zulu and woman in contemporary South Africa; a country where human rights are protected through the Bill of rights within the Constitution, and watched by human rights activists. The resurgence of ubuntombi (virginity) in-between the mid 1980s and the mid 1990s was accompanied by the revival of virginity testing. This aroused discontentment from some scholars, human rights advocates and gender activists who regard it as a violation of girls’ human rights. Representations from practitioners of ubuntombi (virginity), however, were not among the critics, yet they consider this cultural practice their cultural heritage and identity. The article is based on empirical research conducted on ubuntombi (virginity) through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) in KwaZulu-Natal province. Through a postcolonial feminist theoretical lens, the article demonstrates that the tested young Zulu women, included in the research, re-narrate and re-claim ubuntombi and virginity testing as cultural practices that inform their young womanhood in the Zulu context. Even though some izintombi object to virginity testing, they similarly enjoy their status of being izintombi since they regard it as their indigenous practice.