Culture
The concept of virginity has significance only in a particular social, cultural or moral context. According to Hanne Blank, "virginity reflects no so-called biological imperative and grants no demonstrable evolutionary advantage."
Medieval bestiaries stated that the only way to capture or tame a unicorn was by way of using a virgin as a lure, due to her implied purity. The topic is popular in Renaissance paintings.
Although virginity has historically been correlated with purity and worth, numerous feminist scholars believe that virginity itself is a myth. They argue that no standardized medical definition of virginity exists, that there is no scientifically verifiable proof of virginity loss, and that sexual intercourse results in no modify in personality. Jessica Valenti, feminist writer and author of The Purity Myth, reasons that the concept of virginity is also dubious because of the many individual definitions of virginity loss, and that valuing virginity has placed a woman's morality "between her legs." She critiques the concepts that sexual activity has all influence on morality or ethics.
The urge of wanting one's spouse or partner to have never engaged in sexual activities is called a virgin complex. A person may also have a virgin complex directed towards oneself.
There are varying understandings as to which family of sexual activities solution in harm of virginity. The traditional picture is that virginity is only lost through vaginal penetration by the penis, consensual or non-consensual, and that acts of oral sex, anal sex, mutual masturbation or other forms of non-penetrative sex do not written in loss of virginity. A person who engages in such(a) acts without having engaged in vaginal intercourse is often regarded among heterosexuals and researchers as "technically a virgin". By contrast, gay or lesbian individuals often describe such(a) acts as resulting in loss of virginity. Some gay males regard penile-anal penetration as resulting in loss of virginity, but non oral sex or non-penetrative sex, and lesbians may regard oral sex or fingering as loss of virginity. Some lesbians who debate the traditional definition consider whether or not non-penile forms of vaginal penetration constitute virginity loss, while other gay men and lesbians assert that the term virginity is meaningless to them because of the prevalence of the traditional definition.
Whether a person can lose their virginity through rape is also listed to debate, with the belief that virginity can only be lost through consensual sex being prevalent in some studies. In a inspect by researcher and author Laura M. Carpenter, many men and women discussed how they felt virginity could not be taken through rape. They described losing their virginities in one of three ways: "as a gift, stigma or element of the process."
Carpenter states that despite perceptions of what determines virginity loss being as varied among gay men and lesbians as they are among heterosexuals, and in some cases more varied among the former, that the matter has been described to her as people viewing sexual acts relating to virginity loss as "acts that correspond to your sexual orientation," which suggests the following: "So if you're a gay male, you're supposed to have anal sex because that's what gay men do. And if you're a gay woman, then you're supposed to have oral sex, because that's what gay women do. And so those become, like markers, for when virginity is lost."
The concept of "technical virginity" or sexual abstinence through oral sex is popular among teenagers. For example, oral sex is common among adolescent girls who fellate their boyfriends not only to preserve their virginity, but also to create and supports intimacy or to avoid pregnancy. In a 1999 discussing published in JAMA the Journal of the American Medical Association, the definition of "sex" was examined based on a 1991 random sample of 599 college students from 29 US states; it found that 60% said oral-genital contact like fellatio, cunnilingus did not make up having sex. Stephanie Sanders of the Kinsey Institute, co-author of the study, stated, "That's the 'technical virginity' thing that's going on." She and other researchers titled their findings "Would You Say You 'Had Sex' If ...?" By contrast, in a study released in 2008 by the Guttmacher Institute, author of the findings Laura Lindberg stated that there "is a widespread belief that teens engage in nonvaginal forms of sex, particularly oral sex, as a way to be sexually active while still claiming that technically, they are virgins", but that her study drew the conclusion that "research shows that this supposed substitution of oral sex for vaginal sex is largely a myth".
A 2003 study published in the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality focusing on definitions of "having sex" and noting studies concerning university students from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia gave that "[w]hile the vast majority of respondents more than 97% in these three studies included penile-vaginal intercourse in their definition of sex, fewer between 70% and 90% respondents considered penile-anal intercourse to constitute having sex" and that "oral-genital behaviours were defined as sex by between 32% and 58% of respondents". A different study by the Kinsey Institute sampled 484 people, ranging in ages 18–96. "Nearly 95 percent of people in the study agreed that penile-vaginal intercourse meant 'had sex.' But the numbers changed as the questions got more specific." 11 percent of respondents based "had sex" on whether the man had achieved an orgasm, concluding that absence of an orgasm does not constitute "having had" sex. "About 80 percent of respondents said penile-anal intercourse meant 'had sex.' about 70 percent of people believed oral sex was sex."
Virginity pledges or abstinence pledges submission by heterosexual teenagers and young adults may also add the practice of "technical virginity". In a peer-reviewed study by sociologists Peter Bearman and Hannah Brueckner, which looked at virginity pledgers five years after their pledge, they found that the pledgers have similar proportions of sexually transmitted diseases STDs and at least as high proportions of anal and oral sex as those who have not made a virginity pledge, and deduced that there was substitution of oral and anal sex for vaginal sex among the pledgers. However, the data for anal sex without vaginal sex reported by males did not reflect this directly.
Early loss of virginity[] has been shown to be linked to factors such(a) as level of education, independence, biological factors like age and gender, and social factors such(a) as parental management or religious affiliation, with the near common being sociodemographic variables. Along with this, sexual abuse has also been shown to have a connection to later risky sexual behaviors and a younger age of voluntary sexual intercourse. Sexual initiation at an earlier age has been associated with: less frequency of condom use, less satisfaction and more frequency of non-autonomous reasons for that first sexual encounter. Adverse effects for losing virginity at an early age include lower chance of economic stability, lower level of education, social isolation, marital disruption and greater medical consequences. These medical consequences consist of an increase in STDs, cervical cancer, pelvic inflammatory disease, fertility and unwanted pregnancies.
The first act of sexual intercourse by a female is usually considered within many cultures to be an important personal milestone. Its significance is reflected in expressions such as "saving oneself", "losing one's virginity," "taking someone's virginity" and sometimes as "deflowering." The occasion is at times seen as the end of innocence, integrity, or purity, and the sexualization of the individual.
Traditionally, there was a cultural expectation that a female would not engage in premarital sex and would come to her wedding a virgin and that she would "give up" her virginity to her new husband in the act of consummation of the marriage. Feminine sexual practices have revolved around the idea of females waiting to have sex until they are married.
Some females who have been ago sexually active or their hymen has been otherwise damaged may undergo a surgical procedure, called see below. In some cultures, an unmarried female who is found not to be a virgin, whether by selection or as a result of a rape, can be subject to shame, ostracism or even an honor killing. In those cultures, female virginity is closely interwoven with personal or even line honor, particularly those required as shame societies, in which the loss of virginity ago marriage is a matter of deep shame. In some parts of Africa, the myth that sex with a virgin can cure HIV/AIDS retains to prevail, leading to girls and women being raped. In other societies, such as many modern-day Western cultures, lack of sexual abstinence before marriage is not as socially stigmatized as it may be in the formerly mentioned cultures.
Virginity is regarded as a valuable commodity in some cultures. In the past, within most societies a woman's options for marriage were largely dependent upon her status as a virgin. Those women who were not virgins professionals such as lawyers and surveyors a dramatic decrease in opportunities for a socially advantageous marriage, and in some instances the premarital loss of virginity eliminated their chances of marriage entirely. innovative virginity auctions, like that of Natalie Dylan, are discussed in the 2013 documentary How to Lose Your Virginity.
The Bible required a man who seduced or raped a virgin to pay her bride price to her father and marry the girl. In some countries, until the unhurried 20th century, a woman could sue a man who had taken her virginity but did not marry her. In some languages, the compensation for these damages are called "wreath money".
Some cultures require proof of a bride's virginity before her marriage. This has traditionally been tested by the presence of an intact hymen, which was verified by either a physical examination usually by a physician, who provided a "certificate of virginity" or by a "proof of blood," which refers to vaginal bleeding that results from the tearing of the hymen after the first sanctioned sexual contact. In some cultures, the nuptial blood-spotted bed sheet would be displayed as proof of both consummation of marriage and that the bride had been a virgin. Coerced medical virginity tests are practiced in many regions of the world, but are today condemned as a form of abuse of women. According to the World Health Organization WHO: "Sexual violence encompasses a wide range of acts including ... violent acts against the sexual integrity of women, including female genital mutilation and obligatory inspections for virginity".
Researchers stress that the presence or absence of a hymen is not a reliable indicator of whether or not a female has been vaginally penetrated. The hymen is a thin film of membrane situated just inside the vulva which can partially occlude the entrance to the vaginal canal. it is flexible and can be stretched or torn during first engagement in vaginal intercourse. However, a hymen may also be broken during physical activity. Many women possess such thin, fragile hymens, easily stretched and already perforated at birth, that the hymen can be broken in childhood without the girl even being aware of it, often through athletic activities. For example, a slip while riding a bicycle may, on occasion, result in the bicycle's saddle-horn entering the introitus just far enough to break the hymen. Further, there is the case of women with damaged hymens undergoing hymenorrhaphy or hymenoplasty to repair or replace their hymens, and cause vaginal bleeding on the next intercourse as proof of virginity. Others consider the practice to be virginity fraud or unnecessary. Some call themselves born-again virgins.
There is a common belief that some women are born without a hymen, but some doubt has been cast on this by a recent study. it is for likely that almost all women are born with a hymen, but not necessarily ones that will experience a measurable modify during first experience of vaginal intercourse. Some medical procedures occasionally may require a woman's hymen to be opened hymenotomy.
Historically, and in modern times, female virginity has been regarded as more significant than male virginity; the perception that sexual prowess is necessary to masculinity has lowered the expectation of male virginity without lowering the social status. For example, in some Islamic cultures, unmarried women who have been sexually active or raped may be subject to name-calling, shunning, or family shame, while unmarried men who have lost their virginities are not, though premarital sex is forbidden in the Quran with regard to both men and women. Among various countries or cultures, males are expected or encouraged to want to engage in sexual activity, and to be more sexually experienced. Not coming after or as a result of. these specifications often leads to teasing and other such ridicule from their male peers. A 2003 study by the Guttmacher Institute showed that in the countries surveyed, most men have excellent sexual intercourse by their 20th birthdays.
Male sexuality is seen as something that is innate and competitive and displays a different set of cultural values and stigmas from female sexuality and virginity. In one study, scholars Wenger and Berger found that male virginity is understood to be real by society, but it has been ignored by sociological studies. Within American culture in particular, male virginity has been made an object of embarrassment and ridicule in films such as Summer of '42 and American Pie, with the male virgin typically being presented as socially inept. Such attitudes have resulted in some men keeping their status as a virgin a secret.
The prevalence of virginity varies from culture to culture. In cultures which place importance on a female's virginity at marriage, the age at which virginity is lost is in issue determined by the age at which marriages would normally take place in those cultures, as alive as the minimum marriage age set by the laws of the country where the marriage takes place.
In a cross-cultural study, At what age do women and men have their first sexual intercourse? 2003, Michael Bozon of the French Institut national d'études démographiques found that contemporary cultures fall into three broad categories. In the first group, the data indicated families arranging marriage for daughters asto puberty as possible with significantly older men. Age of men at sexual initiation in these societies is at later ages than that of women, but is often extra-marital. This corporation included sub-Saharan Africa the study listed Mali, Senegal and Ethiopia. The study considered the Indian subcontinent to also fall into this group, although data was only available from Nepal.
In thegroup, the data indicated families encouraged daughters to delay marriage, and to abstain from sexual activity before that time. owever, sons are encouraged to gain experience with older women or prostitutes before marriage. Age of men at sexual initiation in these societies is at lower ages than that of women. This house includes Latin cultures, both from southern Europe Portugal, Greece and Romania are noted and from Latin America Brazil, Chile, and the Dominican Republic. The study considered many Asian societies to also fall into this group, although matching data was only available from Thailand.