Scrutable

Guardian link

I don't know where to start.

This is really happening. To me the world just gets worse.

Does this/can this happen in the UK by NHS doctors?

I could be completely wrong, but I think one of the things which allows this in the US and makes it less (un?) likely in the UK is that here children are generally considered people in their own right, whereas in the states I think parents have more rights in law to govern their children. I could be entirely wrong about this, but I picked it up around the time of that kid who the NHS wanted to turn off life support for, and his parents wanted to keep him alive, with much support from US-based people. There was lots of discussion around the time of the differences between our approach to these issues and theirs.

So if that isn't total bollocks, then I'd expect doctors here to feel much more comfortable refusing any such thing, and parents to have much less right to ask.

"Awkward fingering"? You can see the hymen easily. Fingering runs the risk of rupture, if one is concerned about such things.

I can't be sure but I think I broke mine when I was in primary school. I was climbing on an A-frame during break and slipped, with my legs going either side of the top bar so I fell hard. I know I had to go to the doctor and I think there was bleeding. I had to sit in salt water for a few days (not continuously!). I've never really asked about it but when I got older I started wondering if that's what happened.

The idea of virginity checks are abhorrent.

Aren't there lots of activities that can break the hymen, like horse riding?

I thought that it very rarely lasted until the wedding night.

I agree that the checking is abhorrent obviously.

It's like something out of the Middle Ages.

Or The Handmaid's Tale.

UK-ian laws give far more rights on consultation and consent to minors than seems to be the case in Merkinania - Fraser, neé Gillick, competency'n'that. I spent an awful lot of time doing consent-y stuff with under-16s.

It is arguable that medics might view any request from a parent to carry out such a test as being worthy of a referral to Children's Services, child in need minimum, possibly for a Section 47 investigation.

And that's before you get into such things as the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court, which trumps everything else.

I think it would be highly unlikely to happen in that way in the UK.

Virginity testing was carried out by UK immigration officials during the 1970s: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... ants-1970s