#UnExaminable

As the baccalaureate exam takes place across Romania, DDB Romania in partnership with the Network to Prevent and Tackle Violence against Women (VIF) are raising the alarm on the existence of an abusive and traumatizing type of forensic testing to which young girls from Romania may be subjected: the virginity testing. By drawing a parallel between the exam through which teenagers step into adulthood (the baccalaureate exam) and the virginity testing which is still a practice in the forensic facilities across the country, the campaign #UnExaminable is aimed at removing these tests from the Romanian legislation, declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a violation of human rights.

As high schoolers across Romania prepare to support the tests part of the baccalaureate exam – a national evaluation which began Monday, 6 June this year, with a test assessing their verbal communication abilities, they also learn about the existence of a medical practice perpetuated from times we thought were long gone, namely the virginity testing, also called the “two-finger examination.”

According to WHO, virginity testing is a violation of human rights

Although repealed by WHO as a violation of human rights, virginity testing is still performed in Romania, among expert examinations conducted in forensic facilities for the issuance of forensic certificates. According to WHO, there is no scientific proof that this method could determine whether a woman or a young girl engaged in vaginal sexual intercourse or not. From a medical point of view, hymen examination is less than 10% accurate when it comes to determining the virginity of girls and women under examination. Thus, the test is practically useless, and the procedure may cause trauma.