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Good news: TI inadvertently inspired change

Here’s the good news: California may soon ban virginity testing. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez introduced a bill on Wednesday that would penalize medical practitioners for examining a woman or girl’s hymen in an attempt to ascertain whether she’s ever had vaginal intercourse.

Here’s the bad news: it is 2020 and virginity testing is still completely legal across America. There are no federal or state laws outlawing the procedure and no clear guidelines from major US medical bodies on how doctors should respond to requests to perform one. Last year New York lawmakers weighed legislation that would make hymen examinations a felony, but the bill hasn’t been passed yet.

Virginity testing is a highly invasive and entirely unscientific practice rooted in a patriarchal obsession with women’s “purity”. The state of your hymen is not an indicator of whether you’ve had sex or not – and virginity isn’t a medical fact but a social construct. United Nations agencies have noted that virginity testing has been documented in at least 20 countries around the world and have called for “this medically unnecessary, and often times painful, humiliating and traumatic practice” to end.

There are a couple of reasons why virginity tests haven’t been banned in America yet. First, the country is full of misogynistic lawmakers who are hellbent on turning the country into Gilead. Second, there hasn’t been a lot of discussion around virginity tests until recently. The issue was only really catapulted into the national consciousness last November, when rapper TI made headlines for boasting that he takes his daughter for an annual virginity test.

“We have yearly trips to the gynaecologist to check her hymen,” the rapper said on a podcast. “Yes, I go with her … I will say, as of her 18th birthday, her hymen is still intact.”

TI’s revelation, which he later claimed was “sensationalized”, provoked widespread disgust and was the direct inspiration for the bills that have been introduced in New York and California. It’s probably not the legacy he was expecting to leave, but TI may well go down in the history books for inadvertently helping to outlaw virginity testing in America.

Hungary to provide free IVF treatment

Which would be brilliant if the new policy wasn’t born out of rabid racism. Viktor Orbán, the rightwing nationalist prime minister, is obsessed with the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, and thinks white people are on their way to being wiped out. He’s long been a vocal advocate of “procreation, not immigration” and has brought a number of fertility clinics under state control.

Racist beauty standards are putting black women’s health at risk

Using chemical hair straighteners regularly increases the risk of breast cancer by 31%, according to a new study. Some 74% of black women report using these straighteners, compared with just 3% of white women. “Black women straighten their hair to assimilate,” one woman told the Guardian. “We have to fit in – you never see black women with braids working in corporate.”

Melania Trump honoured as a ‘Woman of Distinction’

Palm Beach Atlantic University, a “a Christ-first independent university,” is honouring the first lady for her Be Best initiative. “Melania is a perfect example of a woman of distinction,” a chairwoman behind the event said. Well, her grammar is certainly distinctive.

A rape reported every 15 minutes in India

According to government data released on Thursday, women reported almost 34,000 rapes in 2018; that’s an average of one rape every 15 minutes. Only 27% of these resulted in a conviction. While these numbers are shocking as it is, they only tell a fraction of the story. According to one study, 99% of sexual assaults in India go unreported.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is cancer-free

The 86-year-old has resumed an active role on the supreme court. Which is very good news for the health of America.

Michelle Williams champions women’s rights at the Golden Globes

“I wouldn’t have been able to do this without employing a woman’s right to choose,” the 39-year-old actor said while picking up an award for her role in Fosse/Verdon. “To choose when to have my children, and with whom.” Williams went on to encourage women to vote “in your own self-interest … It’s what men have been doing for years, which is why the world looks so much like them.”

Gay Jesus resurrected in Brazil

Two million Brazilians with nothing better to do with their lives recently signed a petition calling for a Netflix film, The First Temptation of Christ, to be pulled from the streaming service. The problem? It featured a gay Jesus bringing his boyfriend, Orlando, home to meet the parents. On Wednesday a judge ordered Netflix to take the film down but this decision was later overturned by the country’s supreme court.

The week in parrot-archy

New research has found that African grey parrots help each other out without expecting any reward. It’s the first study to find birds displaying what is apparently “selfless” behaviour. If only we could all be a little more like parrots, eh?