Indonesia Does Away With 'Virginity Tests' For High School Girls After Public Outcry by Phyllis Chesler Breitbart February 11, 2015 Print Send RSS Share: Be the first of your friends to like this. Sanity has just prevailed in Muslim-majority Indonesia. An attempt to impose virginity tests on female high school students in the city of Jember has failed. A public outcry, led by human rights groups, as well as by Indonesia's Muslim clerics, has led to the rescinding of a virginity requirement for girls-only in high school. Non-virgins would not have been entitled to their diplomas. This victory is important and might establish a precedent for an interesting coalition of human rights activists and knowledgeable and humane Muslim clerics. People tend to think of Indonesia as Hawaii-like: carefree, indolent, basking in perpetually pleasant weather. President Obama lived there with his mother, adoptive Muslim father, and sister, from the time he was six until he was ten. His mother returned to study and work in Indonesia on and off for two decades after her son decided to stay in Hawaii for high school. Indonesia is no longer the Big Easy, at least not for women. For example, last year, the relatively small Indonesian province of Aceh mandated thatSharia law must be followed by both Muslims and non-Muslims. Violations include not wearing a headscarf, drinking liquor, unmarried couples having "affectionate contact," and women wearing pants. Female genital mutilation (FGM), although banned, is widely practiced as is polygamy among Hindus in Bali. » CONTINUE READING Related Topics:  Gender, Islam

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