gynecologist visits, after her teen birthday parties, so that he could confirm the virginity of his daughter through hymen testing. Now, what in the world?!
With this flawed and may I say, traumatizing, concept of parenting, this is right up there with some of the worst possible things that he could have done to his daughter. Instead of giving her the gift of liberty for reaching adulthood and equipping her with tools for autonomy over her body and teaching her the basics of consent, he actually participated, even engineered, her being stripped of basic rights and dignity by hyper-fixating on whether her virginity is still intact or not. Apart from this being overwhelmingly disturbing, it is extremely appalling that he put this information out, like it’s a brilliant parenting tactic (No!!!). When, in fact, this is harmful and even distasteful parenting.
A woman’s body, including your child’s, is her own — and no one else should have agency over it. Doing otherwise is a serious breach of privacy and respect. With such action, policing over your child’s sexuality can lead to serious emotional issues when she reaches adulthood. It is hard to imagine how much worse it could get for her, especially when the news blew up on the internet. At this point, I will not be surprised if his daughter was left feeling ashamed about her sexuality. Could you imagine what that has been like for HER?
Additionally, if one wants to argue that requesting this exam, as a parent, helps you discover if someone is abusing your child, you’re misinformed! If you have anxieties regarding her welfare, there are other ethical and decent ways to approach such a specific concern. Plus, if you need a hymenal exam for proof of abuse, you’re likely ignoring all the other signs, while leaving your child in the hands of an abuser.
It’s also important to note that this young lady has already reached adulthood; thus requiring her to sign a consent form in order to disclose her private medical information to her father. As a matter of fact, with