Science Forums 2

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by dannieyankee

I understand it [virginity] was popularised by religion. What keeps it alive today?

As with any question, it’s important to start with a clear sense of what, precisely the “it” that’s being discussed actually is. In the case of words and concepts that’ve undergone centuries of changes in meaning and language, as is the case with “virgin” and “virginity”, this is even more complicated than for typical mathematical or scientific concepts.

An comprehensive history of the concept of virgins and virginity, or even a very trustworthy summary, would be a substantial undertaking of historical and sociological scholarship, but a few key outline points can be thrown up fairly easily.

The etymology of the words offers a good starting place. “Virgin” comes fairly clearly and obviously from an ancient Greek word “virgo”, meaning simply “young woman”, that is, a female older than a “child” but not yet fully mature. It conveys no connotation of sexual abstinence or naivety – those depend on the cultural norms and expectations of females of that age, which, for some females of some socioeconomic statuses in some ancient and modern cultures, may include very sexually experienced roles, such as child prostitutes. In later European civilization, the Germanic language origin “maiden” becomes somewhat synonymous with “virgin”, carrying a connotation of marital status. In this sense, any unmarried female may be considered a virgin. The concept of maidenhood and marriage is fluid across times and cultures. In some instances, maiden may mean a woman who has not had publicly acknowledged, licit vaginal intercourse with a man, or it may mean a woman who has never been pregnant or given birth.

The earliest concepts of virginity appear to apply only to females, but at least 2000 years ago, it was being applied to males. Ca. 95 AD, John of Patmos (AKA John the Divine) wrote in Greek in the Book of Revelation a reference to males “These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.” At some point in world history, the concept became very generalized, the adjective “virgin” being applied to such things as olive oil (eg: “extra-virgin olive oil”) and metal obtained entirely from ore.

In some subcultures, such as present day nuns and monks, virginity is commonly understood to be synonymous with physical and mental chastity (refraining from sexual acts or thoughts). Present-day non-Catholic Christians, especially in the US, have related concepts called such things as “secondary virginity”, “revirginization”, “born-again”, and “renewed virginity”.

Although the concept of female virginity has in many times and cultures, including present day, been used to support the idea of women as the property (chattel) of men, it has for thousands of years in some cultures to explicitly exempt women from chattel status. From about 750 to 394 BC, a small number of high-status Roman priestess of the goddess Vesta, the Vestal Virgins, were exempt for a period of 30 years from contemporary Roman law that made women chattel of their fathers, then their husbands. In medieval Europe and Asia, Christian nuns owned property, locally governed themselves, and were not chattel to fathers or husbands, even when living within communities where this was the law.

The comments above just scratch the surface of the complicated sociological and historical concept of virginity, but hopefully they serve to disabuse readers of the belief that virginity is no more than a tool of oppression and/or moral condemnation.

Another interesting line of inquiry into the concept of virginity is to consider its biology, anatomy and physiology, especially various common misconceptions, such as the belief that its possible to reliably determine if adult woman has ever been vaginally penetrated by examining her hymen, or that one can estimate how many times or how often a woman has had vaginal intercourse by physical examination. It’s also interesting (and ribaldly funny, IMHO) to consider what sort of sexual activities various cultures and sub-cultures consider virginity-ending or not: oral-genital sex, anal sex, sex between women, sex between men, etc. I’ve know some intensely sexual and sexually active people who considered themselves, and were considered by many of their peers, to be virgins!