Citation

Goodyear-Smith FA, Laidlaw TM. Forensic Sci. Int. 1998; 94(1-2): 147-153.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science, University of Auckland School of Medicine, New Zealand. f.goodyear-smith@auckland.ac.nz

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9670493

Abstract

Since tampon availability has become ubiquitous, several authors have opined about their effect on the virginal hymen, but only one paper has scientifically addressed the subject of tampon use and clefts in the hymens of never-sexually-active adolescent girls. It naturally has become an authority used by the courts. The Emans et al. (1994) study asserts that 'for physicians testifying in court about sexual assault cases, complete clefts in adolescents cannot be attributed to prior tampon use'. On closer inspection, however, it appears that the authors have interpreted their statistical finding using a strict scientific convention (chi 2, P = 0.06 as not having statistical significance) that may mislead in a clinical or legal situation. Indeed, there is a definite possibility that tampon use compared to not having used tampons in their never-sexually-active sample was associated with an increased percentage of complete hymenal clefts (14% vs. 6%; P = 0.06). Nevertheless, clefts were found in both the sexually active and the never-active groups: 20 of their 200 never-sexually-active subjects possessed complete hymenal clefts, as did only 84 of their 100 sexually active subjects. Caution should be used by all physicians asked to testify in courts regarding possible causes of a hymenal cleft.

Language: en