Virginity as a sign of Masculinity: The case of the Borana Oromo, Ethiopia

Abstract This article discusses the socially constructed masculinity of unmarried girls among the Borana in southern Ethiopia. The Borana practice the longstanding Gadaa political system, which was inscribed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity in 2016. Data for this article was gathered through qualitative approaches, including interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs), and direct observation of the 2012 Gadaa general assembly. Such an assembly is held once every eight years to enact new Gadaa rules and amend the existing ones. The findings indicated that the Gadaa system provides rules regulating Borana marriage lives, including premarital virginity for girls. The Borana refers to an unmarried girl as “dubra gammee,” which means “a virgin girl,” who has a masculine identity and is “a male person.” Unmarried girls have certain physical markers, particularly a hairstyle that they share with boys. Any sexual act with unmarried girls is therefore homosexual and punishable. Gadaa and all related institutions care for the premarital virginity of girls. The Gadaa rules impose punishment unconditionally on men who have sex with unmarried girls. On the other hand, the Borana tolerate extramarital sexual relations, which has partly contributed to maintaining the premarital sexual innocence of Borana girls.


Concepts and values of premarital virginity
Despite some local specificities, the value of maintaining the premarital virginity of girls is widely known in different societies across the world (Molla et al., 2008).In some customary practices, like in parts of Senegal, virginity is a gender-neutral term, but it has different meanings when linked to adolescent girls and boys.Premarital virginity is inviolable for girls, but not for boys.A girl is ABOUT THE AUTHORS Dejene Gemechu Chala is an associate professor of social Anthropology at Jimma University.He completed his PhD in Social Anthropoilogy from Martin Luther University, Halle-Saale, Wittenberg, Germany.His research interests are indigenous knowldge, women and gender studies, peace and conflict studies Jatani Dida Haro is a senior researcher who has worked for decades in culture and tourism office of Borana zone, Oromia, Ethiopia.His reseach interests are indigenous knowldge and governance supposed to enter a marriage as a virgin, while a boy has to be sexually active (Van Eerdewijk,  2009, p. 11).Similarly, among the Shona ethnic group in the northern parts of Zimbabwe, there are double standards in constructing sexuality and girls' subordination.Patriarchal norms impose the obligation of maintaining premarital virginity on adolescent girls, but not on men (Matswetu &  Bhana, 2018).According to Baumeister and Vohs (2004, p. 351), men's virginity is a stigma that should be avoided as much as possible.In this regard, there are differences between what brings shame to males and females because of the distinct roles assigned to each.Chen (2020, p. 1) describes such a gender-based value of virginity as an "asymmetric virginity premium." There are rituals for wedding nights, full of symbols, cultural values, and ceremonies to celebrate the virginity of a bride and the virility of a bridegroom.A bride's virginity contributes positively to her status and the respect of her family (Fejza, 2014; Jaldesa et al., 2005).Ghanim (2015) discusses how a woman who meets her husband while being a virgin also brings along with her the honor and power associated with her virginity.
Female virginity is a simple demarcation line between sexual experiences and innocence.However, according to Ghanim (2015), in the Middle East, virginity is an index of honor, modesty, and a mode of social existence for women.The values of virginity shape the entire societal perception of romance, sexuality, honor, social life, gender relations, and gender roles.Fejza  (2014), who wrote about Kosovo society, shows how losing virginity before marriage adversely affects a woman's marital life.In this cultural framework, nobody wants to marry such a girl; she may also be liable to execution.It also leads to a loss of honor for the girl as well as her parents.In some cases, if a girl loses her virginity before marriage, she loses the right to property.
However, the importance of maintaining premarital virginity is not universal, even though it is broadly recognized across cultures.In the meantime, the broadly held belief that prohibiting premarital sex for women is a method for men to control women's sexuality is not always correct.Premarital sex is not necessarily compatible with extramarital sex.Some customs do not condemn premarital sex but only adultery.Other customs allow extramarital sex but prohibit premarital sex.Still, some others condemn both premarital and extramarital sex.There are also variations across cultural settings in valuing premarital virginity.The variation ranges between total approval and strong disapproval (Schlegel, 1991, p. 721).According to Legesse (1973), Borana young men who are unable to marry due to cultural reasons 1 could only have mistresses from among married women, as unmarried women are forbidden.Legesse says, "The cicisbean liaison is established with the implicit and sometimes explicit consent of the husband" (p.67).
There are several practices and institutions that support the value of the virginity of unmarried girls (Chen, 2020, p. 2; Nagpal & Sathyanarayana, 2016).Ergun (2013, p. 265) shows that institutions such as the government, family, marriage, law, health, and education also work in favor of protecting premarital virginity.Examples from Turkey show how virginity reconstruction through surgery is common.Chen (2020, p. 5) also shows how health institutions contribute to maintaining the value of premarital virginity by introducing surgery to restore the ruptured hymen using modern technology.
Nagpal and Sathyanarayana (2016, p. 2) conclude that the basic inequalities between men and women and the exclusive sexual control of the former over the latter are central to these genderbiased practices.In all cases, it targets controlling women's sexuality.According to Ghanim (2015), the premarital virginity of girls is an institutionalized imposition on women.This idea is partly relevant to our study because both the protection of premarital virginity and the post-marriage relative freedom of sexual relationships for women are institutionalized among the Borana Oromo.
At a theoretical level, Chen (2020, p. 6) designed a model to explain the inequality between men and women in ex-ante and ex-post-marriage market opportunities, which the author calls the asymmetric virginity premiums.If a woman has premarital sexual affairs, she is a sexual outcast, whereas the stigma does not include males.Baumeister and Vohs (2004, p. 339-340), use an economic approach to develop a theory of sexual interactions.Sexual partners are potentially equal.However, in most customary practices, men play the role of buyers and women are the sellers of sexual services.This economic explanation does not necessarily refer to material goods but also to nonmaterial ones, including services, time, and emotions.
According to Baumeister and Vohs (2004, p. 351), women's sexual activity has exchange value, unlike men's sexual activities.These authors used social exchange theory to explain sexual interactions.Female virginity is a source of a noble reputation, which is accompanied by rewards.Wright (2011, pp.7-8) argues that the foundation of social exchange theory is a social psychological perspective that describes how people act with the goal of maximizing rewards and minimizing costs, whether material or symbolic in nature.In its symbolic form, a reward can be reputation, social status, or a positive identity.Thus, in this context, adolescent girls invest in maintaining their virginity until their wedding night to win the reward.Whenever virginity is a gift with significant cultural values, it also has a recipient who acknowledges the values attached to it.In this scenario, virgin women attract more sexual mates compared to non-virgin ones (Baumeister & Vohs, 2004).
The value of premarital virginity also entails considerable material incentives, which the bride's family receives in the form of bride wealth.For instance, among the Somali, the family of the bridegroom has the right to check the premarital virginity of the betrothed girl, but they are liable to pay a large amount of the bride price in return (Ogoe, 2015).According to Schlegel (1991), the form of the marriage transaction has a positive relationship with the value of virginity, regardless of whether the family of the bride pays dowry 2 or receives bride wealth.That is why families protect their daughters' virginity to maximize the symbolic return in the form of honor and material benefit in the form of bride wealth or dowry.To the contrary, men seek to lose their virginity because it leads to the reward of being masculine (Baumeister & Vohs, 2004).
Finally, at the center of these ideas, we find that virginity is a woman's virtue that serves in the marriage market (Schlegel, 1991).The social exchange theory, particularly the idea of virginity as a woman's virtue is relevant to this article.The idea of the form of a marriage transaction, whether it involves wealth exchange and/or honor, is still important.In these theoretical contexts, this article discusses the values, interpretation, and ways of preserving the virginity of unmarried girls 3 and their masculine identity among the Borana in Ethiopia.The following section presents an overview of the Borana Oromo to set the cultural context for the paper.

The Borana: The cultural setting
The Borana are one of the Oromo groups that are predominantly pastoralists, inhabiting southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya.They are the custodians of Oromo culture, who practice the Gadaa 4 political system, relatively in its original form.This system provides rules regulating sexual behavior, including values of premarital virginity (Amae, 2005; Huqqaa, 1996; Shongolo, 1994).The Gadaa political system divides all male members of the Oromo into five Gadaa classes (Gadaa parties), called gogeessa.The system requires every male member of the Oromo to pass through different Gadaa grades, each lasting eight years, except the final one, which is a retirement stage.Each is attached to certain privileges, roles, responsibilities, and social statuses.Among the Borana, these grades are: dabballee, junior gammme, senior gammee, kuusa, raaba, doorii, Gadaa, yuuba-I, yuuba-II, yuuba-III, yuuba-IV, and gadamoojjii (Legesse, 1973).Membership in a particular gogeessaa is hereditary, as one joins the gogeessaa of his father and grandfather.The sons always enter the system exactly five grades (forty years) behind their fathers.
Each Gadaa gogeessaa assumes power in orderly rotation and rules through its elected representatives for a single term that lasts for eight years.During the fourth year of its reign, each gogeessaa organizes a general assembly, which is the legislative body of the system. 5This assembly is a "Gumii Gaayoo" which Legesse (1973) called "the assembly of the multitude."This assembly is held every eight years and is open to any able and interested Borana men and women, as well as to researchers and tourists alike.Shongolo (1994), Huqqaa (1996), and Amae (2005) reported the three consecutive Borana general assemblies of 1988, 1996, and 2004.The Borana also have clan and lineage leaders working hand in hand with the Gadaa leaders.
The Gumii Gaayoo is held every eight years to enact, restate, and amend Gadaa rules that guide every aspect of the life of the Borana, including sexual behavior and family issues.For example, the Borana practice exogamous marriage; any marriage within a moiety is considered incest (Shongolo, 1994).However, recently, because of some internal changes and external influences like the adoption of other religions, there have been challenges to the local customs, including the rule of exogamy.Thus, the Borana enact and amend Gadaa rules primarily in response to changing circumstances and new challenges to the existing rules.The Gumii Gaayoo of 2012 also focused on family matters and fixed rules regulating girls' sexual behavior.
The Borana have the conformist value of preserving young women's virginity until their wedding day.For them, the premarital virginity of a girl goes beyond the physical existence of a hymen.An unmarried girl abstains from all other sexual intimacies and acts as well.She keeps a physical and social distance from any man who is not a member of her family.
Related literature shows that the loss of virginity is a loss of honor and respect for an unmarried girl and her parents.However, in the Borana Oromo cultural context, the loss of virginity of such a girl also results in the loss of honor for a man who raps her.In other words, the Borana impose the responsibility of preserving girls' premarital sexual innocence not only on girls, but also on men who would otherwise suffer the consequences unconditionally. 6is article argues that the values of premarital virginity of Borana girls are relevant to the marriage transaction.However, the central point in this marriage transaction is not the economic return in the form of bride wealth.The most important return is the marriageability of a girl and the consequent honor and respect she attains as a wife.Further, the reputation of a girl's sexual experience greatly contributes to the social construction of honor for her family, lineage, and clan.This honor is said to be a return for their good parenting and socialization.As Ghanim (2015)  shows, the value of premarital virginity is a regulatory practice of female sexuality, the social construction of family honor, and a controlling instrument of gender construction.

Methods and materials
This article is based on purely qualitative data from fieldwork.We collected primary data between July 2012 and August 2017.We employed observation, interviews, and focus group discussions to collect the data.The main source of the data was our personal observation of the 40 th Gumii Gaayoo, which took place between July 2012 and September 2012 in Borana land under the leadership of the 70 th Gadaa leader of the Borana.We directly attended the assembly and recorded the official enactment and amendment of the rules that involved the family code, including the value of virginity and the expected premarital sexual behavior of Borana girls.On this occasion, we took field notes and had video and audio records as well.
We also visited publications that focus on the three successive Gumii Gaayoo and its enactments about family issues, including the prescribed protection for unmarried Borana girls as well as their sexual behavior.The 1988, 1996, and 2004 General Assemblies were published by Shongolo (1994), Huqqaa (1996), and Amae (2005).We reviewed these directly related published materials along with other unpublished audios and videos.
We collected additional data in August 2017 through interviews.The informants were Borana oral historians, Gadaa councilors and leaders, and the elders-men and women who are custodians of the Borana culture.Five women and eight men participated in the interview.We also organized two focus group discussions.The first comprised six women discussants, and the second, seven ritual leaders and elders.The second author was also born and brought up in Borana and is familiar with the issues under discussion.
We did not interview unmarried girls because the custom does not allow any man to speak to a virgin girl about sexual issues in any circumstance.Moreover, unmarried girls do not discuss their feelings about sexual matters, for it is taboo.We, the authors, are native speakers of the language of the study population.We transcribed, coded, and categorized our field data.We interpreted and analyzed the content using qualitative content analysis.Finally, ethical clearance was secured from the concerned bodies.For ethical reasons, informants were informed about the objectives of the study and all consented to give information ahead of time.No personal names were mentioned in the text.

Results: Meanings and markers of virginity among the Borana
According to field data from all sources, any Borana girl must be a virgin at the time of her first marriage.The Borana custom confers upon virgin girls certain social status, respect, and gender identity, which are marked physically and ritually.An unmarried girl has a unique hairstyle and dressing style, receives a different greeting style, passes through a different wedding ceremony, and attains a different status of wifehood at marriage.

Markers of virginity
According to data from our observations and interviews, there are differences in the depth of greetings for married women and unmarried girls.The Borana address men and women with the greetings "baaraa?" and "baartuu?"respectively.The greeting "babaaroo?"(Meaning "are you fine?") is used to greet two or more people-men and/or women.After these words, the custom demands elaborate greetings and information sharing among the adults.However, the same custom dictates very short and brief greetings to unmarried girls, quite different from the conventional one.The nature of the greetings indicates the social distance girls have to maintain from the remaining section of the Borana, especially from alien men.Teasing unmarried girls is both morally and legally wrong because they are a sacred category in society and deserve special respect.Maintaining social distance and avoiding physical contact are both part of the overall cultural framework that is used to shape and control girls' premarital sexual behavior. 7married girls wear different ornaments, like necklaces and bracelets.A girl may only wear one meeta 8 (blunt-ended aluminum armlet) on her hand or wrist.They never use other ritually required ornaments and bracelets, such as roggichaa, or mataa-bofaa (metal armlets whose ends resemble snake heads), which are exclusively for married women.Any Borana woman who wears a bracelet, especially roggichaa on her hand and wrist at the same time is a married woman.A woman wears an umuraa (a plain, flat, dark iron bracelet) only after she gives birth to a boy.The more vivid physical marker of an unmarried girl is her hairstyle.According to key informants, 9 "dubri haga hinfudhin gammee," which translates as "an unmarried girl is a gammee and by default a virgin."The term dubra is for a girl; gammee refers to her hairstyle and social status.A gammee is a hairstyle in which the center is shaved in a circle, leaving only a thin fringe of hair.As the age of a girl increases, the size of the outlying hair increases, and the shaved field decreases.This is the only physical marker of the masculinity of an unmarried girl.This hairstyle is also worn by young boys in the second and third Gadaa grades-gammee didiqqaa (junior gammee) and gammee gurguddaa (senior gammee), respectively.This hairstyle begins for boys as a marker of their transition from the first Gadaa grade-dabballee with guduruu 10 hairstyle to gammee.The new gammee hairstyle lasts for sixteen years-eight years as a junior gammee and the last eight as a senior gammee.The difference is in the size of the hair around the shaved field.For the senior gammee, the crown is shaved into a small circle.
For girls, the gammee hairstyle is an indicator of their marital status and virginity, as well as their masculinity.It begins right after their naming ritual when they are too young and remains the same as long as they are unmarried.As the Borana custom depicts, girls are born male and remain so until their marriage.On the other hand, boys in the first Gadaa grade-the dabballee have guduruu hairstyle-are considered females.These boys attain masculinity after they complete their dabballee grade (it takes them a maximum of eight years) and join junior gammee.The dabballee are usually addressed as "she." In spite of the differences in the meanings and timing of gammee for boys and girls, according to key informants, all the bearers of this hairstyle are bachelors and masculine in gender.The Borana often say "dubri gammee, dhiira," meaning "a virgin girl is a male person."This implies that all gammee are of the same gender, which is masculine.The hairstyle is simply a physical symbol of their social maleness, regardless of their biological and physiological character.Boys withdraw early from gammee when they complete the third Gadaa grade before getting married. 11rriage and related gammee removal rituals put an end to the special social status of gammee girls.Marriage marks the rite of passage to wifehood and feminine identity.On the occasion of the nuptial ceremony, the father of the bride performs a ritual called gammee saaquu (opening the gammee).He renews the shaving of the crown of his daughter and hands over the girl to the bridegroom.This symbolizes that the girl is a virgin.In the meantime, he gives his full consent that the bridegroom is legitimate to remove the gammee ritually and physically.This indicates that a father who "checks" the gammee is the guardian of virginity; whereas the husband who automatically controls the gammee has the right to terminate it.
Symbolically, the husband terminates the gammee through the ritual slaughtering called rakoo qaluu.Rakoo, according to the key informants and FGDs, is a young bull or ram, which a bridegroom slaughters at the kraal of the family.Once the bridegroom slaughters a rakoo, the bride is no longer a virgin, ritually.More explicitly, the bride loses her virginity ritually before any sexual contact between the marriage partners.Thus, losing virginity is not through real sexual intercourse but through the ritual performance.This clearly shows how virginity is not about the physical presence of the hymen but rather about her conformity with the customarily prescribed way of premarital life a Borana girl has to pass through. 12e ritual of rakoo qaluu marks that the bride and bridegroom are legitimate marriage partners.It also shows that this marriage is the first and most respected one that offers the bride a special status-a status of niitii rakoo, meaning a virgin marriage.It is a rakoo that makes a virgin bride a woman and an authentic wife to her marriage partner.Right after this ritual, the gammee hairstyle ends and the cibraa replaces it.Cibraa 13 is a married Borana woman's hairstyle.The bride commences her femininity and terminates her masculinity that has been in effect until her wedding day.Here she enters the feminine gender, with full sexual freedom as a woman.She acquires the new status of being a legal wife and a member of the clan of the bridegroom with full privileges.The whole process provides a bride with a sense of pride and honor for being a niitii rakoo.Since the rakoo qaluu ritual happens before any sexual contact between the marriage partners, the blood of a sheep or a young bull represents the bloodshed during the first sexual intercourse.The cutting of the blood vessels of the animal during the ritual slaughter also symbolically disconnects the girl from her clan while linking her with the clan of her husband.This ritual marks the end of the virginity of young girls, a process known as gammee duuchuu. 14though the Borana have a physical and symbolic representation of virginity and the rituals it entails during marriage, they do not practice virginity testing in its real physiological sense.The custom does not also demand the bridegroom prove the virginity of the bride by producing the bloodshed from her hymen.By default, the bride becomes a legitimate wife through the rakoo ritual of slaughtering.The women who are close relatives of the bridegroom try to prove the virginity of the bride indirectly by providing the bride with some services, like washing her clothes, which might have blood stains from the hymen.The bride is also happy to show them that she was a virgin until that date. 15e ritual of rakoo qaluu, which is performed in the evening of the wedding day is a turning point for the bridegroom to become an eligible husband with full rights of fatherhood over all future children of the bride.Regardless of the biological fact underlying these children's birth, all children born after this point are the children of their mother's husband.On the one hand, the Borana tolerate extramarital sexual relations and, on the other, a husband's exclusive paternity rights to children born to his wife.This right lasts for the remaining life of the woman, even after the death of the husband.The Borana do not tolerate premarital pregnancy.By default, a premarital pregnancy results in the birth of a child from no one's wife and an illegitimate father.This happens because a husband becomes legitimate only through the rakoo qaluu ritual. 16This ritual serves as a watershed moment for the marriage partners to redefine and renegotiate their gender identities and power dynamics.
In this regard, as soon as a girl gets married, she drops her masculinity, hands it over to her husband, and enters the world of femininity, where she stays for the rest of her life.Thus, regardless of biological facts, the Borana socially construct masculinity and femininity.They define and redefine gender, gender relationships, and gender roles; assign status; and dictate sexual behavior, practices, and attitudes.Thus, a woman attains feminine identity only when she is married and tied to a male figure-her husband.The existence of femininity is deemed incomplete without masculinity.

The gadaa system
The Borana Gadaa system and related institutions are responsible for protecting premarital virginity.The Borana Gadaa assembly (Gumii Gaayoo) recites these responsibilities and reviews all related rules guiding the sexual behavior of girls every eight years.The assembly also focused on the roles and responsibilities of other institutions, particularly the family.On the occasion of the 40 th Gumii Gaayoo, the leader (Abbaa Seeraa) of the assembly declared the rules to the public through the speaker of the assembly.The leader clarified that the rules were the result of a thorough discussion among Gadaa leaders and the Borana elders, as well as all concerned bodies.As discussed above, the enactment, amendment, and restatement of rules were responses to the prevailing challenges and opportunities.Among others, the declaration of issues related to girls was focused because of the emerging challenges to sexual norms.The declaration went as follows: In former times, fathers and mothers closely supervised their daughters.Now, girls are traveling in the name of attending wedding ceremonies without the knowledge of their fathers, mothers, and brothers.Parents are responsible for protecting their daughters.Everybody should be vigilant about this issue.If girls commit premarital sex and get pregnant, it is because of a lack of close supervision by their parents, who are responsible.The Borana (the Gadaa through its various bodies) will never be held accountable. 17e assembly's speaker made public that some cases of sexual harassment against girls and rape had recently been reported.For the Gadaa leaders, the negligence of the parents contributes to this effect.The assembly also expressed concern about the ever growing number of Protestant churches 18 where girls are subject to sexual harassment while attending overnight prayers.This long quotation shows that the general assembly takes the front line in guiding and deciding what the sexual behavior of unmarried girls should be, as well as the responsibilities of each Borana institution in protecting girls from any unwanted sexual relations.The assembly discussed the violation of the Borana norm and called for corrective measures.The general assembly announced the inviolable preservation of the premarital sexual innocence of girls.Boys' sexual behavior was not part of the agenda.The success or failure of the decision demands a longitudinal research study.

The marriage institution
The Borana are exogamous, and marriage is between their two moieties-Goonaa and Sabboo.In principle, for the Borana woman, marriage occurs only once in her lifetime.By default, this first marriage is a virgin marriage.The Borana do not have widow marriages; instead, they have levirate marriages, in which a widow is taken in by a male relative of her husband-his brother.
The Borana custom does not also provide divorce as a solution to any sort of disagreement or mismatch between a husband and his wife.Since a woman acquires full membership in the clan of her husband following her marriage, the right to keep or renounce her membership resides in this clan and not with her husband.As a result of clan intervention through clan leaders, a woman who is disagreeing with her husband can stay at her home with her share of the property without any or limited contact with the husband.The clan leaders provide her with the necessary support and supervision.
The Borana say 'niitiin yoo tolte kan abbaa ti, yoo hammaatte kan gosaa ti".This means, "a wife belongs to her husband if she is at peace with him, and belongs to the clan otherwise."This kind of restriction, which they call irraa kutuu, meaning "banning the relations between the couples," happens mostly when the husband is extravagant and unable to take care of the livestock of the family and his children properly.Clan leaders are responsible for protecting the family and their property from any sort of mismanagement, regardless of who the miscreant is. 19wever, divorce rarely occurs in despair over preserving the marriage and maintaining the clan membership of the woman.When it happens, it is with the intervention of clan representatives (hayyuu) on both sides.A divorced woman can remarry without a rakoo ritual, for she is not a virgin and cannot attain the social status of niitii rakoo, which a woman normally attains once in her life.Such an official divorce also terminates the lifelong paternity of the first husband over her children from the second marriage.Children born in the second marriage belong to the second husband.However, people refer to them "children of a widow" "children of a mother without rakoo," or "children of one's wife."In this context, the Borana marriage system encourages and institutionalizes only virgin marriages. 20ong the Borana, the overall cultural framework and clan relations contribute to marriage practice, including the value of virginity.Marriage unites not only individual marriage partners but their families, lineages, and clans on both sides.Individuals' honor in the marriage contract has broader implications that entail the honor of their respective families, lineages, and clans.Marriage arrangements always consider the integrity of the girl and the respect and honor of her family, lineage, and clan.Thus, no family dares to have a daughter who is a sexual outcast.No man, family, lineage, or clan is ready to accept in marriage a girl with anti-social norms, immorality, and sexual outcast status.Thus, the institutional backing of virginity is consistent with marriage arrangements, family roles, clan affiliation, community values, and the Gadaa system. 21

The family
The custom demands every girl protect her reputation through self-discipline.As it is stated above, the 2012 general assembly underscored that close supervision of girls by their parents-mothers, fathers, and brothers-is a norm among the Borana.Each Borana family is responsible for protecting girls from sexual harassment and premarital sexual contact.The following quotation is taken directly from the words of the assembly speaker.
The community knows a girl who is out of the supervision of her parents (her mother, father, and brothers).Everyone knows a girl who is left alone with men by her negligent mother.This is not Borana's custom, and we do not want it to persist. 22cording to the assembly, the negligence of the parents is the reason for the violation of Borana's sexual norms.The assembly complained that the relative freedom of girls had contributed to this effect.This complaint of the assembly directly refers to parents who allow their daughters to attend different overnight social events like nuptial ceremonies and church fellowships.Currently, a significant number of Borana girls attend schools, including higher institutions that are situated in other parts of the country, and parents have no full control over the sexual behavior of their daughters.

The Hariyaa 23 Institution
Hariya, literally meaning "peers or age-mates", is one of 23 the subsidiary institutions operating within the framework of the Gadaa system (Legesse, 1973).Hariyaa is an age-based institution that includes all boys born during the eight years of a particular Gadaa period, regardless of their membership in a particular gogeessaa (Gadaa party).This institution contributes to the protection of premarital virginity.The age-mates have a special gathering to celebrate a ritual known as korma-korbeessa, sometimes when they are between 16 and 24 years of age.They begin with the ceremony of hariyaa, called ijoollee kuuchuu (children of kuuchuu), also known as kuusoma.They sing and go in and between Borana villages, demanding feasts and recruiting new age-mates.Kuusoma is their song, which they use to praise heroes and respectful personalities.To the contrary, they also sing to expose and trash perpetrators who violate any Borana customs, including the norms of premarital virginity. 24The blaming songs primarily target sexual outcasts, such as rapping an unmarried girl, incest, and other sexual matters that violate Borana custom (Legesse, 1973).In doing so, they attract the attention of all Borana men and women.
In addition to verbal blame, the hariyaa punish the wrongdoers by excluding them from any ritual participation.For the rest of their lives, the peers call themselves hariyaa.However, the wrongdoers, like sexual outcasts, suffer a lifelong sanction to join their hariyaa.He loses the right to use the common name of his age-mates.Neither he is allowed to hunt, fight wars, and take part in any social event with them.He has no right to demand anything from or offer support to his peers. 25

Social sanctions against sexual outcasts
The 2012 general assembly announced that 'nami nadheen himatte yoo mormateellee jalaa bahuu hinqabu; dhugaa itti hingaafatan,"meaning,"for any case of rape, sexual assault, or harassment, the statement of a woman is taken for granted, and the offender shall be punished."There is no need for evidence to prove the case.Sexual harassment includes even non-prescribed greetings for virgin girls. 26e general assembly recited that "any sexual intercourse between a man and an unmarried girl counts as homosexual".The Borana use the phrase "dhiira middisomsuu" for "mating" between males.Data from Borana elders indicated that whether premarital sexual intercourse takes place with or without the consent of the girl is important to determining who the culprit is or is not.Primarily, if a man rapes a girl without her consent, the crime belongs only to this man.He is a sexual outcast called caphana, and she is not.However, whether the girl is pregnant or not matters in deciding the future fate of the two.When the girl is pregnant, the custom demands that the man marry the victim instead of terminating the unwanted pregnancy via abortion.Such a marriage might violate the basic principles of exogamy, provided that the two are from the same moiety.However, one of the key informants stated that "haadhaa-abbaa tokkoo irraa yoo dhalatan illee durawalitti galan, infuudha", meaning ''even if they are from the same mother and father, they have already started sex; they have to marry each other.'On the other hand, if the girl is not pregnant as a result of the rape, she has the right to marry another man.Yet, the situation does not allow her to attain the status of niitii rakoo in her future marriage.Such a woman might marry a man from another ethnic group living with and neighboring the Borana via a non-Borana method of marriage arrangement. 27condly, a man who has sexual affairs with an unmarried girl and a girl who consents to this act commit homosexuality since both are male.Both are caphana (sexual outcasts) and suffer the consequences.Whether or not the two marry each other, the state of being caphana remains so, and the impurity lasts a lifetime.The Borana have different ways of performing ritual reparation and cleansing impurities.Nevertheless, there is no way to reverse the caphana case.A caphana man remains under an unconditional ban from marrying among the Borana girls for the rest of his life.
He is completely isolated, including a prohibition on participating in korma-korbeessa rituals with his peers (discussed above), and greetings, as well as a prohibition on cooperating with him in dayto-day pastoral activities, entering his home, allowing him to enter others' homes, serving him a seat, and using his seat.He loses the right to use common ponds, wells, and grazing land.The Borana refers to this type of sanction as "waanti Borana biratti hinhafne", meaning "nothing of the Borana remains for him".In all cases, there is no physical violence against either men or girls who violate these sexual norms.
In this setting, caphana is an unclean marriage that extends to the offspring of the marriage partners.Children born into this sort of relationship may suffer discrimination.Primarily, the children of such a couple can be from incestuous unions or impure unions, particularly if the parents are from the same moiety.Secondly, the behavior of the parents has a direct impact on the marriage preferences of their children.There is an Oromo proverb, "haadh ilaalii intal fuudhi," meaning "consider the behavior of the mother before marrying her daughter."This implies the honor and behavior of the parents are relevant in preferring their children for marriage.No one prefers to marry children from caphana parents.Most of the time, a caphana man or woman faces a challenge that is intolerable in the context of the pastoral economy, which highly requires day-to -day cooperation.A caphana often gives up rural life and is exiled to urban areas as a daily laborer. 28

Discussion and conclusion
Our findings indicate that virginity is a gender-specific reference to females' sexual innocence.The Borana custom provides a unique definition of masculinity and femininity.It gives young anatomically females a masculine gender from birth until their wedding day.The main purpose is to maintain the girls' premarital virginity.Unmarried girls are males and, by default, virgins.To the contrary, anatomically, baby boys in the dabballee Gadaa grade are born feminine and remain so for a maximum of eight years.This finding partly corroborates the work of Van Eerdewijk (2009), which indicates that virginity is a gender-based, socially constructed phenomenon.In the meantime, it varies from Eerdewijk's findings because, for the Borana, virginity gives an unmarried girl a masculine identity.She becomes feminine upon her marriage as she loses her virginity, both ritually and symbolically.In line with Van Eerdewijk's (2009) discussion, for the Borana, premarital sexual innocence refers to unmarried girls and not to unmarried boys.Schlegel's (1991) cross-cultural study shows the values of premarital virginity range between total approval and strong disapproval of premarital sex for girls.The Borana case is an example in which having sex is completely prohibited for unmarried girls.This empirical study, however, brings to the fore a unique instance in which there is also a strong disapproval of sex for men with unmarried girls.The finding also indicates that the Borana man who has sexual contact with an unmarried girl unconditionally suffers from sexual impurity and breaking the taboo.Such a man is a sexual outcast, liable to suffer total social exclusion.Nagpal and Sathyanarayana (2016) indicate that the value of premarital virginity is one of the mechanisms for ensuring the exclusive sexual control of males over females.However, it has no direct relation to extramarital sex.Specific to the Borana, the value of virginity is for guiding the marriage system and ensuring paternity through rakoo ritual slaughtering rather than biological procreation, even though it involves both.It does not simply target controlling women's sexuality.
In line with what Nagpal and Sathyanarayana (2016) state in the Borana context, the value of premarital sexual restriction for girls is not compatible with the extramarital sexual behavior of married women.The latter enjoy relative sexual freedom right after their marriage.Legesse (1973)  shows that several Borana women evict their husbands in favor of their lovers.This relative extramarital sexual freedom of Borana women is contrary to the inviolable premarital virginity.Similarly, the premarital sexual freedom of the Borana men seems to balance the post-marriage tolerance of the extramarital sexual relations of their wives.The prevailing extramarital sexual relations contribute to protecting the premarital virginity of girls.Young men who are sexually active but unmarried opt to have concubines from among married women since it is taboo to seduce unmarried girls into having affairs with them.The violation of this custom is highly punishable.This is one of the institutional arrangements that contribute to maintaining the premarital sexual innocence of Borana girls.
Scholars show how various institutions such as the family, marriage, education, health centers, law, and practices such as circumcision promote the value of premarital virginity (Chen, 2020;  Jaldesa et al., 2005; Nagpal & Sathyanarayana, 2016).The empirical findings from Borana corroborate these views.The issue of premarital virginity has been part of the main agenda of the Borana General Assembly that is held every eight years (Amae, 2005; Huqqaa, 1996; Shongolo,  1994).The 2012 general assembly also discussed the same issue.In addition, family, marriage, and hariyaa institutions support the value of premarital virginity for girls.
The model developed by Chen (2020) about the inequalities between men and women ex-ante and ex-post-marriage market opportunities is relevant to this empirical study, but it does not fully fit it.For the Borana, primarily, marriage is a lifelong contract, and divorce is nearly non-existent.By default, the ex-post-marriage market opportunities for women are nonexistent.There is also no opportunity for a non-virgin, unmarried girl to marry with a reduced amount of bride wealth.The amount of the bride wealth payment among the Borana is so small and has nothing to do with the premarital virginity of girls.Rather, the two options are whether a young girl qualifies to marry at all or is liable to serious punishment for being a sexual outcast.Baumeister and Vohs (2004), who used social exchange theory in explaining sexuality and virginity, show that sex is a female's supply, which is highly valued, whereas male sexuality is not.This holds true in the cultural context of the Borana, who highly value the premarital virginity of girls but encourage males to be sexually active in both premarital and marital life.This fits partially with what Chen (2020) states as the asymmetric virginity premiums, since ex-ante and ex-post-marriage market opportunities are nearly nil for Borana women.However, the fact that punishment extends to a man who has had sex with an unmarried girl is quite new.
In the meantime, the issue of the premarital sexual behavior of a woman is important in relation to the right of fatherhood of her first husband.In this regard, the work of Schlegel's (1991) is useful to understand the value of virginity among the Borana.The value of premarital virginity is to prohibit premarital pregnancy.A virgin marriage ensures a woman's right to be the legitimate wife of her first husband and guarantees her husband the right to the fatherhood of her children.It also makes the birth of her children legitimate.
Legal marriage and ritual performance, such as the rakoo ritual, establish paternity rights.The social exchange theory by Wright (2011), which explains the premarital value of female virginity in terms of costs and benefits, is relevant to our findings.According to these authors, the cost and benefit can appear in material or symbolic forms.Among the Borana, respecting the premarital virginity of girls involves certain rewards.The rewards that are more important are in symbolic and psychological forms, such as a noble reputation, prestige, and a positive self-image.The work of Fejza (2014) is also relevant.Girls show high satisfaction if their first sexual experience is with their husbands.To the contrary, abuse of the expected standard leads to dishonor and punishment.