lthough condemned by WHO as a violation of human rights, virginity testing is still performed in Romania among examinations conducted in legal-forensic facilities.

This type of exam can still be performed at the request of parents who want to test their daughters, in exchange of a small fee. In 2019, these tests accounted for 2% of all examinations carried out by the National Forensic Institute, which means around 1.000 tests annually.

According to WHO, “virginity” is not a medical or scientific term, but a social construct, one that reflects gender discrimination. Virginity testing is based upon hymen examination, which is less than 10% accurate when it comes to revealing if a woman had vaginal sexual intercourse. Thus, the test is useless, and the procedure may cause trauma.

Idea: As high-schoolers across Romania prepared to begin the Baccalaureate exam, a national evaluation that began on Monday, 6th June, we thought of raising awareness on the existence of another abusive exam that some teenagers still have to pass nowadays: the virginity exam, also called the “two-finger” test.

So we launched #UnExaminable, a campaign focused on an emotional video, which draws a parallel between the baccalaureate exam and virginity exams, in order to outlaw them.

The tearjerker video captures our protagonist’s anxious thoughts before what we think it’s a school exam, but the whole build-up leads to the reveal that the hardest exam for her is the virginity exam. The video urges people to sign a petition aimed at removing these tests from the legislation.

Results: In the first day alone, on 6th of June, all major media outlets picked up the story and featured articles on the subject. #UnExaminable was featured on all important Romanian TV channels: Prima TV, PRO TV, EuroNews, B1 TV, Antena 3, Antena 1 and DIGI TV. The media exposure was free and we reached a total audience of almost 18 million viewers.

The petition gathered over 20.000 signatures in the first two days alone and after one week increased to 35.000 with almost no paid promo. Over 35 Romanian influencers joined the cause and shared our petition.

Most importantly, just 5 days after the launch, the Mina Minovici Institute of Legal Medicine (INML) no longer issues virginity certificates on request in Bucharest. The decision was taken after civil society reacted to our campaign and raised the alarm about these tests. The Minister of Family applauded this decision and encouraged other medical units to follow through.

The final petition has also been submitted to the authorities and the VIF Network for a final decision that the tests will be removed from all remaining legal units.