Virgin cleansing myth

The virgin cleansing myth (other names are virgin cure myth, virgin rape myth, or simply virgin myth) is the belief that having sex with a virgin girl cures a man of sexually transmitted diseases.^[1]

Anthropologist Suzanne Leclerc-Madlala says the myth is a potential factor in infant rape by HIV-positive men in South Africa.^[2] Young girls are often raped, because they are thought to be virgins because of their age. Sometimes, people with disabilities are raped, because the rapist thinks that because of their disability, these people do not have sex and are therefore virgins.^[1]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Groce, Nora E.; Trasi, Reshma (2004-05-22). "Rape of individuals with disability: AIDS and the folk belief of virgin cleansing". Lancet (London, England). 363 (9422): 1663–4. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)16288-0. PMID 15158626. S2CID 34857351.
2. ↑ Leclerc-Madlala, S (2002). "On the virgin cleansing myth: gendered bodies, AIDS and ethnomedicine" (PDF). African Journal of AIDS Research : AJAR. 1 (2): 87–95. doi:10.2989/16085906.2002.9626548. PMID 25871812. S2CID 20940212. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-15. Retrieved 2011-12-29.