5. Virgin cleansing was, and remains in some parts of the modern world, a medical treatment to cure an individual of serious infectious diseases but instead merely passed the condition onto the unfortunate “virgin” as well.
The virgin cleansing myth is a historic belief that engaging in intercourse with virgins possesses the spiritual power to heal a person of serious infectious diseases. First reported in 16th-century Europe, accounts detail the efforts of prominent individuals to rid themselves of “social diseases” by engaging in intimate activities with presumed virgins. The precise origin of this medical practice is unknown, but it has been theorized to stem from the Christian mythical traditions of virgin-martyrs: legendary figures whose purity protected them against demonic forces. Expanding in the popular imagination in 19th century England as a cure for syphilis, gonorrhea, and other sexually transmitted diseases, the British Empire subsequently gifted this dangerous falsehood to the world.
Disgustingly, this ineffective practice has 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. 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 discover 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.