Virgin territory So much fuss over a little flap of skin. I mean, really. Especially given most scientists aren't sure why it even exists. Sure, some believe it's there to protect our vaginas from infection, but our happy place seems to do fine once we lose it.
"Most research believes that the hymen is vestigial tissue - that is, tissue that possibly once had a function in a different evolutionary stage but has since become redundant," Marianna Beck tells me over the phone from Chicago. "Still, despite its physical redundancy, that little piece of membrane has taken on huge societal, religious and moral significance."
Beck, who has a PhD in erotology - the study of how art, literature and cultural behaviours influence human sexuality - is a bit of a virgin expert. At the recent Sexual Health and Pleasure Film/Video Festival in California, Beck - who has co-published Libido magazine (www.libidomag.com) for 12 years - gave a talk about the evolution of virginity called "From Goddess to Maiden."
Beck says that virgins didn't always conjure images of meek, innocent, white flowing-dressed babes. Virgins were once considered pretty damn powerful, and virginity signified female independence and autonomy more than sexual abstinence.
In other words, virgins kicked butt.
"Many Greek goddesses were virgin goddesses and were seen as all powerful because they were autonomous and didn't need a man," says Beck. "Much like the fertility goddesses of the past, virgin goddesses were often believed to have control over crops, animals and weather."
According to Beck, the Torah of the ancient Israelites threatened that if a menstruating virgin passed between two men, one of them would die.
And, bizarrely, thieves in medieval Russia believed that if they carried a candle made of the fat of a murdered virgin when they pillaged churches, they wouldn't get caught. Where one gets the fat of a murdered virgin, mind you, is another question.
This notion that virgins can protect you isn't so ancient. Even today, people in parts of Africa where AIDS is rampant think that sex with virgins offers protection from venereal disease.
OOO
So when did virginity go from something powerful to something precious that young women must "save" for marriage?
Beck attributes this to the shift from hunting-and-gathering to agriculture-based, patriarchal societies.
Once men owned property that they could pass on to sons, she says, it became very important to make sure you knew your wife's kids were your own.
Beck says the more patriarchal societies of today also place a higher value on virginity.
"It comes down to control of women," she says. "If you can control their sexuality you can control a lot."
Religion, as usual, was also largely to blame.
By the time the most famous virgin came around - the Virgin Mary - there was so much negative press around sexuality that, really, how could the mother of Jesus be anything but virginal, says Beck. True enough. Mary the Slut just doesn't quite roll off the tongue, does it?
But most girls weren't so lucky to get it on with the Holy Spirit.
They had to save it for their husbands.
Once virginity was established as a requirement for marriage, proving it became de rigueur. Checking the sheets for bloodstains after the wedding night has always been the popular method, and one that is still practiced - despite the fact that plenty of women don't bleed the first time they have sex.
Still, according to Beck, as recently as 1978, a study done among Bulgarian Gypsies discovered that after the wedding night, the husband's family would pour plum brandy onto the bloodstained sheets of the bride. If the brandy caused the blood to move in the shape of a flower, all was well. But if the bride had tried to fool the experts by using, say, pig's blood - which just doesn't "bloom" right - the girl was considered a big old floozy.
And, yes, in many cultures, proof of this was enough reason to kill a young woman. Even today, thousands of girls in the Middle East and Asia die every year in "honour killings." It doesn't seem very honourable to me, but I suppose it's all in your perspective.
It's not just a problem overseas. In Chicago last year, Beck informs me, a young girl was murdered by her father because she had been raped and was no longer valuable to him and had brought shame on the family.
OOO
With stakes like this, it's no wonder that, throughout history, women have found as many ways to fake virginity as to prove it. It was once popular, says Beck, to take the bladder of a fish, fill it with pig's blood, and pop it in your vagina before the big night. Now that sounds fun.
This wouldn't pass the plum brandy test, mind you, but there are other ways to fake virginity. Many doctors these days will actually reconstruct a girl's hymen. The practice is called hymenorraphy and, in some cultures, it is done using sheep's membrane, while others use catgut to stretch across a young woman's vagina. Occasionally, they will pop in a gelatin capsule full of blood-like liquid that is meant to burst when the girl has intercourse.
Like I said, so much fuss over a little flap of skin.
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Posted - Feb 3 2003 : 10:29AM