Former S politician: Criminalizing innocence processes is in the interest of the clans

From the Minister for Gender Equality, Paulina Brandberg, it’s a clear endorsement of the criminalization of virginity operations. But that won’t solve the problem, says Nalin Pikul, a former SV politician, when she and the Minister for Gender Equality discuss interventions about virginity in the Aktuellt of SVT.

Bekgol believes that virginity processes are necessary to give women the opportunity to choose, while giving less room for clan chiefs to control women.

– I want to challenge the clan leaders and say that you are talking nonsense about virgins. Bekjol says: You can work and you have no power over women.

However, the Minister for Gender Equality does not agree with this.

– I usually agree with Nalin Pekgul, but on this particular matter you ended up wrong. Brandberg says such a process strengthens the myth that you have to bleed.

broad criminalization

When it comes to this kind of operation, it is an expression of honor oppression. Equality Minister Paulina Brandberg is clear on this.

Therefore, she is proposing not only to make it illegal to carry out the procedures, but she also wants to see a broader criminalization that includes virginity checks and virginity certificates and also applies to, for example, religious leaders.

– We want to go further than the previous government. We have expanded the investigation previously conducted and will be announced in July.

Virginity surgeries are needed

On the contrary, says Nalin Bekul, the possibility of carrying out “virginity interventions” means that the honor myth around virginity is diminished. For the women involved, this is also an opportunity to choose what they want to do.

These women have the right to decide their lives. It’s not always that others force them, she says. Sometimes it can be about worrying about what your man thinks.

– I have met such girls and usually tell them: “If a man loves you, he will not be interested in him, and if there is no one who loves you, then this is a piece of nonsense that is nice to throw out,” says Nalin Pikul.

Hear Minister for Gender Equality Paulina Brandberg and former South Sudanese state politician Nalin Bicol discuss virginity operations at Aktuellt this evening.