Etymology
The word virgin comes via Old French virgine from the root form of Latin virgo, genitive virgin-is, meaning literally "maiden" or "virgin"—a sexually intact young woman.[5] The Latin word probably arose by analogy with a suit of lexemes based on vireo, meaning "to be green, fresh or flourishing", mostly with botanic reference—in particular, virga meaning "strip of wood".[6] The first known use ofvirgin in English comes from an Anglo-Saxon manuscript held at Trinity College, Cambridge.
- c. 1200: Ðar haueð ... martirs, and confessors, and uirgines maked faier bode inne to women. — Trinity College Homilies 185 [ms B.15.34 (369)]
In this, and many later contexts, the reference is specifically Christian, alluding to members of theorder of virgins known to have existed since the early church from the writings of the Church Fathers.[7] However, within about a century, the word was expanded to apply also to Mary, the mother of Jesus, hence to sexual virginity explicitly.
- c. 1300: Conceiud o þe hali gast, born o þe virgine marie. — Cursor Mundi 24977
Further expansion of the word to include virtuous (or naïve) young women, irrespective of religious connection, occurred over about another century.
- c. 1400: Voide & vacand of vices as virgyns it ware. — The Wars of Alexander 4665
These are just three of the eighteen definitions of virgin from the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED1, pages 230-232). Most of the OED1 definitions, however, are very similar.
Frank Harris (1923) claims to have given the following humorous etymology in a lecture, " 'vir,' as everyone knows, is Latin for a man, while 'gin' is good old English for a trap; virgin is therefore a mantrap."[8] Other, serious, but unsupported etymologies exist in print.
The German for "virgin" is Jungfrau. Although Jungfrau literally means "young woman", a standard formal German word for a young woman, without implications regarding sexuality, is Fräulein.Fräulein can be used in German, as a title of respect, equivalent to current usage of Miss in English. Jungfrau is the word reserved specifically for sexual inexperience. As Frau means "woman", it suggests a female referent. Unlike English, German has a specific word for a male virgin Jüngling ("Youngling"). It is, however, rarely used in this sense. Jungfrau, with some masculine modifier, is more typical, as evidenced by the film, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, about a 40 year-old male virgin, titled in German, Jungfrau (40), männlich, sucht.[9] German also distinguishes between young women and girls, who are denoted by the word Mädchen. The English cognate"maid" was often used to imply virginity, especially in poetry.
German is not the only language to have a specific a specific name for male virginity; in French, male virgins are called "puceau" or "Joseph" whereas a number of indigenous Bolivians, males presenting with phimosis who injure their frenulum during first penetration are said to be "uncartridged" as opposed to "cartridged" before first intercourse[10].
By contrast, the Greek word for "virgin" is parthenos (παρθένος, see Parthenon). Although typically applied to women, like English, it is also applied to men, in both cases specifically denoting absence of sexual experience. When used of men, it does not carry a strong association of "never-married" status. However, in reference to women, historically, it was sometimes used to refer to an engaged woman—parthenos autou (παρθένος αὐτού, his virgin) = his fiancée as opposed to gunē autou (γυνή αὐτού, his woman) = his wife. This distinction is necessary due to there being no specific word for wife (or husband) in Greek.
Despite such definitions cited above, an alternative definition and understanding of the word 'virgin' has been discussed by Queer theorists. Kitzinger and Wilkinson write that Marilyn Frye, a lesbian feminist scholar described that the term 'virgin' "originally meant not women without experience of heterosexual intercourse but rather 'females who are willing to engage in chosen connections with males, [women] who are wild females, undomesticated females, [and] thoroughly defiant of patriarchal female heterosexuality'".[11]
[edit]In culture
Another cross-cultural study in 2003, by Michael Bozon, found contemporary cultures to fall into three broad categories.[citation needed]
In the first group, the data indicated families arranging marriage for daughters as close to 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 group included sub-Saharan Africa(the study listed Mali, Senegal and Ethiopia). The study considered the Indian subcontinent also fell into this group, although data was only available from Nepal.
In the second group, the data indicated families encouraged daughters to delay marriage, but to abstain from sexual activity prior to it. However, sons are encouraged to gain experience with older women or prostitutes prior to marriage. Age of men at sexual initiation in these societies is at lower ages than that of women. This group includes Latin cultures, both from southern Europe (Portugal,Greece and Romania are noted) and from Latin America (Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic). The study considered many Asian societies also fell into this group, although matching data was only available from Thailand.
In the third group, age of men and women at sexual initiation was more closely matched. There were two sub-groups, however. In non-Latin, Catholic countries (Poland and Lithuania are mentioned), age at sexual initiation was higher, suggesting later marriage and reciprocal valuing of male and female virginity. The same pattern of late marriage and reciprocal valuing of virginity was reflected in Singapore and Sri Lanka. The study considered China and Vietnam also fell into this group, although data was not available.
Finally, in northern and eastern European countries, age at sexual initiation was lower, with both men and women involved in sexual activity prior to any union formation. The study listedSwitzerland, Germany and the Czech Republic as members of this group.
Consistent with the northern European findings above. A more recent sex education survey of UKteenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 in 2008 (conducted by YouGov for Channel 4), showed that only 6% of these teenagers intended waiting until marriage before having sex.[12]
[edit]Perceived value
The state of virginity often has special significance, usually as something to be respected or valued. This is especially true in societies where there are traditional or religious views associating sexualexclusiveness with marriage.
Female virginity is closely interwoven with personal or even family honour in many cultures, especially those known as shame societies, in which the loss of virginity before marriage is a matter of deep shame. For example, among the Bantu of South Africa, virginity testing or even thesuturing of the labia majora (called infibulation) has been commonplace. Traditionally, Kenuzi girls (of the Sudan) are married before puberty (Godard, 1867), by adult men who inspect them manually for virginity (Kenedy, 1970). Female circumcision is later performed at puberty to ensure chastity (Barclay, 1964).
History evidences laws and customs that required a man who seduced or raped a virgin to take responsibility for the consequences of his offense by marrying the girl or by paying compensation to her father on her behalf.[13] In some countries until the late 20th century, if a man did not marry a woman whose virginity he had taken, the woman was allowed to sue the man for money, in some languages named "wreath money".[14]
Emphasizing the monetary value of female virginity, some women have offered their virginity for sale. In 2004, a lesbian student from the University of Bristol was said to have sold her virginity online for £8,400, and Londoner Rosie Reid, 18, reportedly slept with a 44-year-old BT engineer in a Euston hotel room against payment for her virginity.[15] In 2008, Italian model Raffella [sic?] Fico, then 20 years old, offered her virginity for 1 million Euros.[16] In that same year, an American using the pseudonym Natalie Dylan announced she would accept bids for her virginity through a Nevada brothel's web site.[17][18]
Some historians & anthropologists note that many societies that place a high value on virginity before marriage, before the sexual revolution, actually have a large amount of premarital sexual activity that does not involve vaginal penetration: for example, oral sex, anal sex and mutual masturbation. This is considered by some people "technical" virginity, as vaginal intercourse has not occurred but the participants are sexually active.[citation needed]
There are anthropological reasons for the view that vaginal penetration, especially on the part of the woman, is especially indicative of a change in status, a threshold irrevocably crossed, the most incontrovertible "loss of virginity".[citation needed]
[edit]Loss of virginity
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The act of losing one's virginity, that is, of a first sexual experience, is commonly considered within many cultures to be an important life event and a rite of passage. The loss of virginity can be viewed as a milestone in a person's life.
In human females, the hymen is a membrane, part of the vulva, which partially occludes the entrance to the vagina, and which stretches, or is sometimes torn, when the woman first engages in sexual intercourse. It can also be broken by cycling, horseback riding, or gymnastics. The human hymen can vary widely in thickness, shape, and flexibility. Throughout history, the presence of an intact membrane has been seen by many as physical evidence of virginity in the broader technical sense. The presence of a hymen is a possible indication, but no guarantee, of virginity, given that some degree of sexual activity may occur without rupturing the hymen, the hymen may be broken through means other than sexual, and because there may exist varying definitions as to the type and extent of sexual activity that is considered by a person to terminate the state of "virginity". This is further complicated by the availability of hymenorrhaphy surgical procedures to repair or replace the hymen (a procedure that is more common in countries where virginity is greatly prized, as in the Middle East.) It is a common belief that some women simply lack a hymen, but doubt has been cast on this by a recent study.[3]
In the majority of women, the hymen is sufficiently vestigial as to pose no obstruction to the entryway of the vagina. The presence of a broken hymen may therefore indicate that the vagina has been penetrated but also that it was broken via physical activity or the use of a tampon or dildo. Many women possess such thin, fragile hymens, easily stretched and already perforated at birth, that the hymen can be broken, or merely disappear, in childhood, without the woman even being aware of it.
In contrast to the common cases of an absent or partial hymen, in rare cases a woman may possess an imperforate hymen, such as prevents the release of menstrual discharge. A surgical procedure known as hymenotomy, which creates an opening in the hymen, is sometimes required to avert deleterious health effects. The playwright Ben Jonson claimed that Queen Elizabeth I of England, the Virgin Queen, had a "membranum" that made her "incapable of Man", and that a friend of hers, a "chirurgeon", had offered to remedy the problem with his scalpel and that Elizabeth had demurred.
In males, there is no physically visible indicator of virginity.
[edit]Analogies relating to virginity
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The sexual partner during the loss of virginity is sometimescolloquially said to "take" the virginity of the virgin partner. In some places, this colloquialism is only used when the partner is not a virgin, but in other places, the virginity of the partner does not matter. The term "deflower" is sometimes used to also describe the act of the virgin's partner, and the clinical term "defloration" is another way to describe the event.
One slang term used for virginity is "cherry" (often, this term refers to the hymen, but can refer to virginity in males or females) and for a virgin, deflowering is said to "pop their cherry," a reference to destruction of the hymen during first intercourse.
A curious term often seen in English translations of the works of the Marquis de Sade is to depucelate. This word is apparently a literal translation of dépuceler, a French verb derived frompucelle (n.f.), which means "virgin". Joan of Arc was commonly called "la Pucelle" by her admirers.
[edit]Academic study
Although a wide variety of terminology is employed within academic literature, a common term for "losing virginity" is sexual debut. One theory hypothesizes there is an appropriate developmental stage for this, hence an approximate age (see age of consent).
[edit]Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropologists have discovered that romantic love and sexual jealousy are universal features of human relationships.[19] Social values related to virginity reflect both sexual jealousy and ideals of romantic love, and appear to be deeply embedded in human nature.
[edit]Social psychology
Psychology explores the connection between thought and behavior. Seeking understanding of social (or anti-social) behaviors includes sexual behavior. Joan Kahn and Kathryn London studied U.S. women married between 1965 and 1985 to see if virginity at marriage influenced risk of divorce.
| “ | This article examines the relationship between premarital sexual activity and the long-term risk of divorce among U.S. women married between 1965 and 1985. Simple cross-tabulations from the 1988 National Survey of Family Growth indicate that women who were sexually active prior to marriage faced a considerably higher risk of marital disruption than women who [sic] were virgin brides. A bivariate probit model is employed to examine three possible explanations for this positive relationship: (a) a direct causal effect, (b) an indirect effect through intervening "high risk" behaviors (such as having a premarital birth or marrying at a young age), and (c) a selectivity effect representing prior differences between virgins and non-virgins (such as family background or attitudes and values). After a variety of observable characteristics are controlled, non-virgins still face a much higher risk of divorce than virgins. However, when the analysis controls for unobserved characteristics affecting both the likelihood of having premarital sex and the likelihood of divorce, the differential is no longer significant. These results suggest that the positive relationship between premarital sex and the risk of divorce can be attributed to prior unobserved differences (e.g., the willingness to break traditional norms) rather than to a direct causal effect.[20] | ” |
This study makes no recommendation, it simply notes that the women most likely to exercise freedom to enter sexual relationships prior to marriage, overlap significantly with the women most likely to exercise freedom to leave a relationship after marriage. Men were not the subject of this study.
[edit]Religion
[edit]Hinduism
In Sanskrit a virgin is called akṣata-yoni. Kṣata means "diminished", a is the negating prefix andyoni refers to female reproductive organs generically — used freely for womb or vulva as context requires. Hence akṣata-yoni suggests something like "undefiled womb" or "unspoiled vulva", but could be understood specifically as "unruptured hymen". Common related words are kanyā andkumārī, which refer to a young, unmarried girl, a bride or a daughter in general. Whilst virginity is not strictly implied by the words, it is generally presumed. These are also names of the goddessDurga, who is a virgin in some of her aspects or manifestations (see avatar).
a Purāṇa text:
| “ | The sun-god said: O beautiful Pṛthā, your meeting with the demigods cannot be fruitless. Therefore, let me place my seed in your womb so that you may bear a son. I shall arrange to keep your virginity intact, since you are still an unmarried girl."[21] | ” |
a legal text attributed to Manu:
| “ | The nuptial texts pertaining to unmarried virgins are applied solely to unmarried virgins, (and) nowhere among men to unmarried females who have lost their virginity, for such (females) are excluded only from (those) nuptial religious ceremonies."[22] | ” |
[edit]Contemporary Hinduism
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In conservative Hindu societies in Nepal and India, any form of premarital sexual intercourse is still frowned upon and is considered an act destined to bring great dishonour and disrespect to the family. It is practically impossible for a non-virgin girl to find a partner from a traditional family in rural areas, though in cities and among the urban middle class Hindus the criteria of virginity is generally relaxed. Among some castes of Hindus virginity is not a requirement for marriage even in theology. No legal statutes exist that explicitly require virginity as a requirement for marriage. Virginity is primarily seen as desirable because of longstanding traditions rather than from theological justification (which most Hindus outside the clergy do not regard as literal guidelines).
[edit]Judaism
Virginity first appears in the Jewish scriptures in Genesis, where Eliezer is seeking a wife for his master's son. He meets Rebekah, and the narrative tells us, "the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her" (Genesis 24:16). Virginity is a recurring theme in the Bible — the nation is frequently personified as the virgin daughter of Israel in the prophetic poetry. It is a wistful phrase, since Genesis also says that Israel's (Jacob's) only daughter Dinah was, in fact, raped as she entered the promised land. The Torah also contains laws governing betrothal, marriage and divorce, with particular provisions regarding virginity in Deuteronomy 22.
Sex in Judaism is not seen as dirty or undesirable — in fact, sex within marriage is considered amitzvah, or desirable virtue (literally a 'commandment'). Jewish law contains rules related to and protecting female virgins and dealing with consensual and non-consensual pre-marital sex. The thrust of Jewish law's guidance on sex is effectively that it should not be rejected, but should be lived as a wholesome part of life.
Although there is a provision in Judaism for sex outside of marriage, the idea of a pilegesh, is it very seldom used, partially because of the emphasis placed on marriage and other social pressures, and partially because some prominent Rabbis have been opposed to it, for example Maimonides.
While a child born of certain forbidden relationships, such as adultery or incest, is considered amamzer, approximately translated as illegitimate, who can only marry another mamzer, a child born out of wedlock is not considered a mamzer unless also adulterous or incestuous.
[edit]Greece and Rome
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Virginity has been often considered to be a virtue denoting purity and physical self-restraint and is an important characteristic of Greek goddesses Athena, Artemis, and Hestia. The Vestal Virginswere strictly celibate priestesses of Vesta. The constellation Virgo is said to represent various mythological figures known for virginity.
[edit]Christianity
Like Judaism, from which Christianity was derived, the New Testament views sex within marriage positively, in fact, it is encouraged in 1 Corinthians 7. Just as this chapter is against sex without marriage, so it is against marriage without sex. Self control is valued, however it is considered unrealistic for most, and therefore allows for sexual expression in the safe boundaries of marriage.
Some have theorized that the New Testament was not against sex before marriage.[23] The discussion turns on two Greek words — moicheia (μοιχεία, adultery) and porneia (el:πορνεία,fornication see also pornography). The first word is restricted to contexts involving sexual betrayal of a spouse, however the second word is used as a generic term for illegitimate sexual activity. As such it is not specific about which particular behaviours are considered illegitimate. Elsewhere in1 Corinthians , incest, homosexual intercourse[24] and prostitution are all explicitly forbidden by name. Paul is preaching about activities based on levitical sexual prohibitions in the context of achieving holiness while the Acts of Thomas use porneia as only those activities outside of a monogamous sexual relationship such as adultery and multiple partners which implies he does not see premarital sex as a hindrance to holiness. The theory suggests it is these, and only these behaviours that are intended by Paul's prohibition in chapter seven.[25] The strongest argument against this theory is that the modern interpretation of the New outside Corinthians, speaks against pre-marital sex;[26]
As in Judaism, the interpretation of Genesis is that it describes sex as a gift from God to be celebrated within the context of marriage. The New Testament also speaks of the Christian's body as a holy temple that the Spirit of God comes to dwell in. (1 Corinthians 3:16) Purity in general is deeply threaded throughout the entire Bible.
Christians [[who}} have officially accepted the New Testament claim that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin at the time Jesus was conceived, based on the accounts in the gospels of Matthewand Luke. The Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox denominations, additionally hold to the dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary. However, some Protestant denominations[who?] cite evidence against this including Mark 6:3: "Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And aren't His sisters here with us?". The Catholic Church holds[27] that in Semitic usage the terms "brother," "sister" are applied not only to children of the same parents, but to nephews, nieces, cousins, half-brothers, and half-sisters. Some Christians[who?] may refer to her as the Virgin Mary or the Blessed Virgin Mary.
[edit]Catholic theology
The Catholic Encyclopedia says: "There are two elements in virginity: the material element, that is to say, the absence, in the past and in the present, of all complete and voluntary delectation, whether from lust or from the lawful use of marriage; and the formal element, that is the firm resolution to abstain forever from sexual pleasure." And, "Virginity is irreparably lost by sexual pleasure, voluntarily and completely experienced."[28] However, for the purposes of consecrated virgins and nuns, prior masturbation is not usually inquired into, and canonically it is enough that any sexual activity of theirs is not publicly known or infamous.
Aquinas, emphasizing that acts other than copulation destroy virginity, but also clarifying that involuntary sexual pleasure or pollution does not destroy virginity says in his Summa Theologica, "Pleasure resulting from resolution of semen may arise in two ways. If this be the result of the mind's purpose, it destroys virginity, whether copulation takes place or not. Augustine, however, mentions copulation, because such like resolution is the ordinary and natural result thereof. On another way this may happen beside the purpose of the mind, either during sleep, or through violence and without the mind's consent, although the flesh derives pleasure from it, or again through weakness of nature, as in the case of those who are subject to a flow of semen. On such cases virginity is not forfeit, because such like pollution is not the result of impurity which excludes virginity."[29]
Female saints and blesseds are generally given one of two titles. Those who were either unmarried,nuns, or consecrated virgins are given the title "Virgin" while those who have been married are given the title "Holy Women", not virgins.
[edit]Christian Mysticism and Gnostic Christianity
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In Christian mysticism, Gnosticism, as well as someHellenistic religions, there is a female spirit or Goddess namedSophia that is said to embody wisdom and whom is sometimes described as a virgin. In Roman Catholic mysticism, Hildegard of Bingen celebrated Sophia as a cosmic figure both in her writing and art. Within the Protestanttradition in England, 17th Century Christian Mystic, Universalist and founder of the Philadelphian Society Jane Leade wrote copious descriptions of her visions and dialogues with the "Virgin Sophia" who, she said, revealed to her the spiritual workings of the Universe. Leade was hugely influenced by the theosophical writings of 16th Century German Christian mystic Jakob Böhme, who also speaks of the Sophia in works such as The Way to Christ[4]. Jakob Böhme was very influential to a number of Christian mystics and religious leaders, including George Rapp and theHarmony Society. The Harmony Society was a religious pietist group that lived communally, werepacifistic, and advocated celibacy among its membership.
[edit]Islam
Islam decrees that sexual activity may only occur between married individuals. The husband and wife must always keep in mind the needs, both sexual and emotional, of each other.[citation needed]
Qur'an 17:32 says "And come not near to the unlawful sexual intercourse. Verily, it is a Fâhishah [i.e. anything that transgresses its limits (a great sin)], and an evil way (that leads one to Hell unless Allâh forgives him)."[Qur'an 17:32]: Unlawful sexual intercourse zina (الزنا) refers both to adultery sex and rape.[30]
[edit]Medicine and biology
In early modern Europe, prolonged virginity in women was believed to cause the disease ofchlorosis or "green sickness".
For cross breedings of some laboratory animals, females are needed that have not already copulated in order to ensure that the offspring possess the intended genotype. To do this inDrosophila flies for example, females are used that are maximally 6 to 8 hours old (at 25 °C); only after this period has elapsed do inseminations begin.
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