| Part ofa series on |
| Violence against women |
|---|
| Murder |
| Sexual assault and rape |
| Disfigurement |
| Other issues |
| International legal framework |
| Related topics |
Thevirgin cleansing myth (also referred to as thevirgin cure myth,virgin rape myth, or simplyvirgin myth) is the belief that havingsex with avirgin girl cures a man ofHIV/AIDS or othersexually transmitted diseases.[1]
Anthropologist Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala says themyth is a potential factor ininfant rape by HIV-positive men inSouth Africa.[2] In addition to young girls, who are presumed to be virgins because of their age, people who are "blind, deaf, physically impaired, intellectually disabled, or who have mental-health disabilities" are sometimes raped under the erroneous presumption that individuals with disabilities are sexually inactive and therefore virgins.[1]
People all over the world have heard this myth, including insub-Saharan Africa,Asia,Europe and the Americas.[1]
A survey by theUniversity of South Africa (UNISA) inSouth Africa found that 18 percent of laborers thought that having sex with a virgin curesHIV/AIDS. An earlier study in 1999 by sexual health educators inGauteng reported that 32 percent of the survey participants believed the myth.[3]
According to Betty Makoni of the Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe, the myth is perpetuated by traditional healers advising HIV-positive men to cure their disease by having sex with virgin girls.[4] In Zimbabwe, some people also believe that the blood produced by raping a virgin will cleanse the infected person's blood of the disease.[4]
In 2002, psychologist Mike Earl-Taylor wrote that the virgin cure myth may explain the staggering rise in child or infant rapes in South Africa, which is facing an HIV/AIDSepidemic.[5]UNICEF has attributed the rape of hundreds of girls to the virgin cleansing myth.[6]
In South Africa, men take advantage of women with disabilities as they believe they are virgins.[7]
However, it is unknown exactly how common the myth is and to what degree rapes happen because of the belief in it. The claim that the myth drives either HIV infection orchild sexual abuse inAfrica is disputed by researchersRachel Jewkes andHelen Epstein,[8] as well as by research on convicted sex offenders inMalawi, where no evidence was found to support the idea that the virgin cleansing myth prompted any rapes.[9]
Ignorance with regards to HIV and AIDS infection serves as a barrier to prevention in numerous African nations.[10]
Education has helped women such asBetty Makoni speak out against the myth and attempt to dissuade people from believing the virgin cleansing myth.[11][12]
According toUNICEF,[13] culture-based gender roles that prize innocence and ignorance in girls and that acceptsexual licentiousness in men promote this myth. Girls may be forced to marry older men, which can increase the likelihood of HIVtransmission to girls. The stigma attached toAIDS also stops many people from seeking information orhealth services to shield theirstatus, contributing to further transmission.[14]
The virgin cleansing myth is referenced in the Broadway musicalThe Book of Mormon. The minor character Mattumbo is stopped from raping a baby based on the belief that sex with a virgin will cure his AIDS. During the song "Making Things Up Again",Elder Cunningham tells Mattumbo that raping babies is against God's will, and invents a passage in theBook of Mormon in which God tellsJoseph Smith to instead have sex with a frog to cure hisAIDS.
