<p>Colonel Sri Rumiati made her career in the Indonesian national police force, but the day she was tested for it, in 1984, is one she would rather forget.<br /><br /></p>.<p>During a mandatory physical examination, a doctor led her into a private room, asked her to disrobe and administered a so-called virginity test, inserting two fingers to determine whether her hymen was intact.<br /><br />“I was not comfortable with the test,” said Rumiati, who is now a police psychologist. “The test can be stressful on women and embarrassing.” It mattered little that the doctor who tested her was a woman. It felt like a violation, she said, one that does not determine virginity, that has no comparable equivalent for male police recruits, and that <br />finally does not achieve its ostensible goal of evaluating a recruit’s morality.<br /><br />Women who apply to be police in Indonesia have been subject to virginity testing since at least 1965, when the National Police was placed under the command of the military. <br />The issue has set off heated debate since Human Rights Watch, the international NGO, released a report and a video last month with evidence that the controversial policy was still in force. Local women’s and human rights groups said that examining the hymen is not conclusive in determining virginity and have demanded an end to the practice.<br />A hymen can be damaged through contact sports, horseback riding or an accident, and some babies are born without them, they say. <br /><br /></p>
<p>Colonel Sri Rumiati made her career in the Indonesian national police force, but the day she was tested for it, in 1984, is one she would rather forget.<br /><br /></p>.<p>During a mandatory physical examination, a doctor led her into a private room, asked her to disrobe and administered a so-called virginity test, inserting two fingers to determine whether her hymen was intact.<br /><br />“I was not comfortable with the test,” said Rumiati, who is now a police psychologist. “The test can be stressful on women and embarrassing.” It mattered little that the doctor who tested her was a woman. It felt like a violation, she said, one that does not determine virginity, that has no comparable equivalent for male police recruits, and that <br />finally does not achieve its ostensible goal of evaluating a recruit’s morality.<br /><br />Women who apply to be police in Indonesia have been subject to virginity testing since at least 1965, when the National Police was placed under the command of the military. <br />The issue has set off heated debate since Human Rights Watch, the international NGO, released a report and a video last month with evidence that the controversial policy was still in force. Local women’s and human rights groups said that examining the hymen is not conclusive in determining virginity and have demanded an end to the practice.<br />A hymen can be damaged through contact sports, horseback riding or an accident, and some babies are born without them, they say. <br /><br /></p>
