#UnExaminable is a campaign focused on an emotional film, which draws a parallel between the national high-school exams and virginity testing, highlighting the abusive nature of the latter.

The tearjerker video captures a young Romanian woman’s anxious thoughts as she’s sitting alone on a chair, appearing to be taking an official exam. But the narrative turns dark when her father grabs her from the chair and leads her to a gynaecology room, where she is being subjected to a virginity test, revealing that this is in fact the hardest exam for her. The emotional video aims to spark empathy and urges viewers to sign a petition aimed at outlawing these exams from legislation.

Although condemned by WHO as a violation of human rights, virginity testing is still officially performed in Romania in medical forensic units. For a small fee, the exam can still be performed at the request of parents who want to test their daughters. These tests, carried out by the National Medical Forensic Institute, account for almost 1.000 tests annually.

According to WHO, virginity is a social construct that reflects gender discrimination. Virginity testing is based upon hymen examination, which is less than 10% medically accurate, rendering the test useless and traumatizing.

Our main objective was to increase awareness on this issue and to mobilize the public in order to gather as much support as possible. We wanted to turn the tide of public opinion so fiercely in our favor that lawmakers and politicians would be left with no other choice but to change the law.

#UnExaminable turned into a social movement overnight and managed to change a law just 5 days after the launch. The largest medical unit, the Mina Minovici Institute of Legal Medicine (INML) no longer issues virginity certificates on request. The decision was taken after civil society reacted against these tests. The Minister of Family supported the decision and encouraged other medical units to do the same.

On the day of the launch, all media outlets picked up our story organically, reaching an audience of almost 18 million viewers across all major Romanian TV channels.

In addition, the petition gathered over 43k signatures in a few days, leading to a protest in front of the Government. The campaign also gained attention in pop culture contexts, with debates on Reddit, a satiric nod in Times New Roman (Romania’s equivalent of The Onion) and an unofficial poster created by an underground illustrator.

On June 6th, 2022, when high-schoolers across Romania were set to take the BAC (Baccalaureate) exam, which determines whether they can graduate and attend university, #UnExaminable was launched to raise awareness about the abusive practice of virginity exams. By taking advantage of this important national moment, the campaign aimed to draw attention to the urgency of outlawing this practice and gained significant traction in the media.

The campaign was perceived as widely controversial, having sparked all kinds of reactions, from people being outraged that they’re still being performed nowadays to people defending the parents who request these tests to people mocking the campaign.