Virginity Testing: A British History of Dehumanizing South Asian Immigrants

Words by Zara Arif

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These special 1980s ‘Air India’ playing cards were once a part of Air India's inflight complimentary items, especially on long haul flights, and are now a rare collector's item. Air India was seen as a prime example of genius marketing in the mid-20th century, earning the company a myriad of advertising awards and a loyal legion of fans. While the Maharaja remains Air India’s mascot to this day, he is most fondly remembered worldwide for his role in India’s golden age of advertising. (Available now)

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Virginity Testing: A British History of Dehumanizing South Asian Immigrants

On 1^st February 1979, journalist Melanie Phillips published a harrowing article in The Guardian detailing an invasive ‘virginity test’ imposed on a 35-year-old Indian woman who arrived at Heathrow Airport in January of that year to join her fiancé, an Indian man who was living in London at the time.

The Immigration Act 1971 allowed fiancées to join their partners in the UK without obtaining a visa or an entry certificate on the condition that the couple would marry within three months of the fiancée’s arrival. The provision was effectively seen as a way to ‘jump the queue’ of immigrants waiting to gain entry to the country. Due to the ‘fast track’ element of this provision, the women who were entering the country in this way were often seen by British Immigration Officers as scammers who were taking advantage of the system.