IN LIFE there are few things that are rewarded for inexperience. Virginity is one of those things.
In the era we live in virginity has now become a priced commodity because of its rarity as most women have become sexually liberated and often enter marriages with a detailed sexual CV that might surpass even that of their male counterparts.
So it certainly is an eye opener when you come across a headline in 2014 that a government is offering to pay young girls $18 (R200) a month to incentivise them to abstain from sex and remain virgins.
The government of Swaziland has instituted this policy in a bid to curb HIV transmission. Swaziland is purported to have an HIV transmission rate of 26%, which is considered one of the highest in the world.
It is said that transactional sex has been the biggest driving force behind HIV transmission. This initiative is said will empower young women to say “no” to money in return for sex.
It is believed this will wean young girls from vices of sugar daddies who lure them into illicit sex with their big wallets.
Some have dismissed this as a cheap ploy by King Mswati III to ensure a constant supply of virgins for the annual reed dance where he gets to pick a new wife. It is said that up to 70 000 young girls come and dance semi-naked before the king.
If we were to assume there are 70 000 young women eligible for the virginity grant every month we are looking at $15,8 million (R168 million) per annum. This is by no means a cheap policy for an impoverished country like Swaziland. We might as well reintroduce chastity belts like those of the 1200s.
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Beyond impinging on women’s sexuality there are so many things inherently wrong with this policy. For starters many other countries have managed to reduce their HIV transmission rates without seducing young virgins with money. Surely learning from these countries might have been a starting point.
Then we have the glaring issue of gender discrimination. If you are going to introduce an incentive for females to abstain from sex surely the same incentive needs to be applied to males. Females are not having sex by themselves. Admittedly if they were it might be much safer!
As much as inter-generational sex can be attributed to HIV transmission we must not negate the fact that intra-generational sex still occurs. If this is truly a policy to curb HIV transmission and encourage abstinence why not promote it for both young men and women to abstain from sexual activity? It does take two to tango.
Then the next question I have with this policy is how is it going to be monitored. For a girl to be eligible for the grant there needs to be proof that the hymen is still intact.
Virginity testing will have to be implemented by I assume a special hymen taskforce.
How often will be testing be conducted? Monthly? Quarterly? Bi-annually? Annually? Will the girl be issued with a certificate each time she passes the test? I foresee an administrative nightmare in implementation and continuous monitoring of the state of young womens’ hymens.
Never mind the humiliation that would be suffered by many young women being probed and prodded by prying fingers. Lest we forget, the fragile hymen could be broken while riding a bike or playing vigorous sports.
The third issue I have with this declaration is the $18 (R200) incentive. Is this enough to keep girls from engaging in sex? I can see a sugar daddy whipping out his wallet and offering R400, not even for a month but just to have a once-off sexual encounter.
One could argue that the amount could be raised to R600 a month, but I think we would be missing the point not to price sexuality.
Why not teach young women to value themselves without a price tag attached to it? What lesson are you imparting to them when you tell them their hymen is worth R200 a month or R2 400 a year?
If a woman wants to safeguard her virginity let it be for her moral convictions and not her bank balance. What happened to sex education? Knowledge is power.
Why not educate young women about the dangers of having sex, that she might contract HIV and other STIs, That she might end up with an unwanted pregnancy? Have society’s moral convictions become so weak that we have to bribe maidens with money?
A young woman is much more than just her hymen. Then we wonder why women lack a sense of self worth and self esteem when their very being is minimised to hymen. Can we stop pricing virginity?
Sue Nyathi is the author of the novel The Polygamist. You can follow her on Twitter @SueNyathi
