12. Virgin cleansing was, and remains in some parts of the modern world, a medical treatment to cure an individual of serious infectious diseases
The virgin cleansing myth, or virgin cure myth, is a historic belief that engaging in sexual intercourse with a virgin possesses the spiritual power to heal a person of serious infectious diseases. First reported in 16th-century Europe, multiple surviving accounts detail the efforts of prominent individuals to rid themselves of so-called “social diseases” by engaging in sexual activities with presumed virgins; the precise origin of this medical treatment is unknown, but it has been speculated that the practice stems from the Christian mythical traditions of virgin-martyrs: legendary figures whose purity protected them in battle against demonic forces.
Expanding in the popular imagination in 19th century Victorian England – home to many notoriously poor medical beliefs – as a cure of syphilis, gonorrhea, and other sexually transmitted diseases, the British Empire subsequently gifted this dangerous falsehood to the rest of the world via its colonial possessions. Disgustingly this practice has allegedly continued into the 21st century, notably in South Africa which experienced a dramatic increase in child sexual assault in 2002 in the aftermath of an HIV/AIDS epidemic, and social anthropologists continue to record countless instances of rape in modern Africa in the belief that the perpetrator will be cured of their ailments; surveys by academic institutions on the African continent habitually reveal a continued acceptance in this barbaric and unscientific practice, with 18% of South African laborers found at the turn of the millennium to ascribe to the false theory and as many as 32% of participants in a study from 1999.