DDB Romania | VIF Network

Insight:

Although condemned by WHO as a violation of human rights, virginity testing was still performed in legal-forensic facilities across Romania for a small fee.

As high-schoolers across Romania prepared to begin the national school evaluations, DDB Romania thought of raising awareness on the existence of another abusive exam that some teenagers still have to pass nowadays: the virginity exam, also called the “two-finger” test.

Together with the Network to Prevent and Tackle Violence Against Women (VIF Network), we launched #UnExaminable, a campaign which employed an emotional video to draw parallels between the baccalaureate exam and virginity exams. The video captures our protagonist’s anxious thoughts before what we think is a school exam, but reveals itself as a virginity exam. The video urges people to sign a petition aimed at removing these tests from the legislation.

Impact:

#UnExaminable turned into a social movement overnight, gathering over 20K signatures in the first two days alone and pick up by all major TV news networks. The media exposure was free and we reached a total audience of almost 18 million viewers. Over 35 Romanian influencers joined the cause and shared the petition.

Most importantly, just five days after the launch, the largest medical unit – the Mina Minovici Institute of Legal Medicine (INML) – will no longer issue virginity certificates on request. The decision was made after public outcry raised the alarm about these tests. Several months later, in May 2023, the final decision to remove the test from all units across the country was finally published in the Oficial Monitor, making virginity testing by request now illegal in Romania.