Those well versed with biblical stories will be familiar with the irony that a forgiving father would throw a party at the return of the prodigal son (as if to reward a child’s delinquency) while the good kid carried on working hard in the farm…It is good practice nowadays to encourage positive behaviour with praise and material reward. To that extent, the South African mayor might be excused for introducing his virginity scholarship for girls (click here) on grounds that it will regulate sexual activities reduce the spread of HIV in a nation where 1 in 10 people is HIV positive.
In a deeply religious society that sometimes seeks to turn common wisdom on its head by promoting virtues of forgiveness as implied in the story of the prodigal son (daughter), for example, this supposedly moral act called ‘virginity scholarship’ appears like an extra judicial punishment on those who for various reasons either lose their virginity or are HIV positive and therefore ineligible for the scholarship.
There are certain truths that, if considered by the mayor, would not have led to what is turning out to be:
- An attempt to cover up failure of leadership: It is often the case that we shout the loudest when partying with the converted. And therefore a headline grabbing news such as ‘Virginity scholarship’ obscures the real work of those in power whose duty it is to bring all to responsible sexual conduct. So the real party is in getting the last girl and boy, whether infected or not, to a mature/responsible sexual conduct.
- A failure to recognise and protect personal liberties: sexual conduct for people of a legal age, and especially those at the youthful and naturally rebellious age, is a matter of personal liberty that should be protected and not undermined by a conservative ideology that forcibly exploit the poor by linking complete abstinence with material gain. The rich, who can afford to pay their own university fees are, it seems, not concerned which makes HIV look like a problem for girls who are poor only.
- Another failure to understand personal circumstances: it is possible that some people lose their virginity due to rape. It is also the case that you may still be a virgin but HIV positive as a result of having had it passed on by infected parents or through needles etc.,
- A failure to recognise that while attempting to change people’s behaviour through education, to be HIV positive does not mean that you cannot achieve in society and therefore should be denied opportunities. Linked to this is the concern about the integrity and dignity of the people who must prove that they have not had sex at all, (in the same way that you would be asked to prove that you have never drank water) to be worthy of an opportunity of having one’s education paid for.
What is even more worrying is that this is an initiative taken by a man in a society where men who want to marry more than one wife look to girls who are virgin. Without suggesting that this was the intention but these virginity scholarships that depend on the virginity tests for girls and not for boys seem to be a male consolidation of its stranglehold on the female body by using scholarships to curb her sexual activities while the boys are not only let off the hook but no objection would be raised if he wanted to marry more than one woman.
Reducing HIV infection is a noble cause but the method of virginity scholarship is really flawed!
swipel 