The IOL Poll presented the the claim: Taking photographs of bare-breasted virgins at the annual Reed Dance is "pornographic".

Of the 953 people who voted, 26 percent (252 readers) voted I agree, 37 percent (354) voted I disagree and 36 percent (347) voted I don't care.

Some of reader comments are included below:

Zuleika: Regretfully I agree that there is a pornographic side to the ceremony as it stands.

Piet Praam: I disagree, it's a very public and proud moment for the girls involved. Those virgins who do not want the publicity or exposure don't have to attend.

Jenny: I agree with Zuleika it is exploitation, also the random testing to which the elders are submitting the girls who they suspect are not virgins, how many of the elders were or are Virgins when they get married?

NPC: It's been going on for decades, who are the press and the public to make judgement?

Marc: It might be a bit rude (for those that cover the legs of the piano) but it's not bestial, so I'm all for it. Pull the government funding though. People who want to celebrate their own culture must cough up for it.

Monis: If it's not pornographic to watch, why should it be pornographic to film?

Who Cares: I say Who Cares because if you want to take off your tops and advertise your breasts it doesn't matter where it goes.

AndrewP: The reed dance is tradition, culture. There is nothing pornographic about it in anyway at all.

Simon: AndrewP - In Somalia it is tradition to circumcise (cutting off the clitoris with a sharp object - often not very sharp at all) young woman because a woman who can experience sexual pleasure is seen as evil. Need I even say anything about T-section (woman may not wear pants). Tradition, culture just because people have been practising a ritual for generations, does not make it right.

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No Porn Photographers Allowed at Dance of Topless Virgins

Nongoma, Independent Online, 9/8/05 - Stringent measures have been put in place for this weekend's Royal Reed Dance Festival to prevent photographers from taking pictures for pornographic use.

Mpumelelo Mnguni, chief director of the department of arts and culture, said a strict media accreditation process had been implemented after investigations had revealed that pictures of naked and bare-breasted maidens were being posted on pornographic websites.

More than 10,000 maidens from all over KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Swaziland will be taking part in the Reed Dance at King Goodwill Zwelithini's Enyokeni Palace in Nongoma.

Mnguni said hundreds of guests are expected to attend the three-day festival which begins tomorrow and ends on Sunday.

He told the Daily News on Wednesday that the king was concerned about the growing number of people who took pictures for pornographic purposes.

"His Majesty has complained about this and we will make sure that people caught doing it are dealt with accordingly. It is true that there are some people who take pictures in good faith, but it has come to our attention that some pictures of the maidens are being sold overseas," he said.

Mnguni said they will ensure that only genuine media were accredited and not pornographers. He added that there would be areas where the taking of pictures would not be allowed.

"We don't want any cameras at the tent which will be used by the girls for changing clothes.

We will also take action against those who put cameras below the maidens' legs when they take pictures. We want them to only take pictures of the body and face," he said.

The maidens parade bare-breasted wearing only izigege (a piece of cloth that only covers the front of their lower body).

The gathering, which attracts scores of local and foreign tourists, is an event where unmarried women commit themselves to virginity until marriage.

The ceremony is aimed at teaching young women about their role in society and appropriate sexual behaviour, especially in the light of the Aids pandemic.

The driving force behind the event is the concern over increasing unplanned pregnancies and the spread of Aids.

The festival was started about 200 years ago during the reign of King Shaka Zulu and was stopped in 1879 when King Cetshwayo was arrested by British colonialists.

The festival was revived in 1984 by the current king to fight the scourge of HIV and Aids.

During the festival, maidens wearing traditional attire form a procession which is led by the chief princess. Each maiden carries a reed, cut earlier from a river in the Eshowe area in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

It is believed that if a young woman who is not a virgin takes part in the ceremony, her reed breaks, which embarrasses her in front of the assembled guests and her parents.

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