The ruling to remove the virginity test from the MBBS syllabus comes several decades too late but it is better than never for several reasons. First, the test has little or no basis in science and is simply prejudice and sexism being paraded as 'fact' or science. Some of the details in the chart to distinguish between a 'virgin' and 'deflorate' woman are: a small vs enlarged clitoris; firm, hemispheric breasts with small nipples vs flabby, pendulous breasts. In fact, every person's genitals and breasts differ and these natural variations have no link to virginity.

The idea of virginity lies at the core of social disrespect for women's sexual and bodily autonomy, the many layers of shame and shaming that surround the idea of sex, sexual life, sex education and the resulting resistance to understanding female choice and consent. It is the idea of virginity that symbolizes the clutch of assumptions about what an 'acceptable' -- read marriageable -- woman should be: sexually passive, holding on to her 'purity'.