Being my very first article post, I thought the topic of virgins seemed only logical.
What was it that brought you here to read on further? Was it the very word.. VIRGIN? Was it the dynamics of the actual word, the connotations associated with it?
For me, the very word conjures up images of red and white, don’t ask me why, it just does. My word association would include things like ‘pure’, ‘chastity’, ‘Mary’, ‘Unicorns’, ‘bloodbaths’, ‘religion’ and taboo’.
In history, for a very long time, the subject of virginity was taboo, yet it still remained important. Enter: The chastity belt. A large metal/barbaric contraption worn by females to make it physically imppossible, not to mention improbable to lose their virginity. Apparently this structure was very uncomfortable indeed (I can only imagine!)
I believe that the concepts surrounding virginity has transcended both time and space- including all or most religions and cutures.
Who was the most infamous virigin in history? If she indeed existed, the title goes most definitly to… Mary, The Virgin Mother of God! There are some intersting questions surrounding her virginity. The most prominant question I can think of right now is: Do you think it mattered that she had to be a virgin? I think so. The concept of her being a virgin gives her merit and authority to claim that she is the mother of the ‘son of god’. She had to be pure. Pure=clean and as they say ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’. I mean, who in their right mind would have believed her claims if Mary had been a little.. promiscuous. No one would believe the town slut if she suddenly proclaimed she had an immaculate conception, they’d say ‘bullshit!’ Granted not that exact word, but along the lines of it.
Speaking of religion, along with most other western Christian religions, some eastern religious also have adopted the virgin phenomenom.
In middle-eastern countries where Islam is prominant, it is extremly important for girls to remain virgins. If she is found not to be pure she runs the risk of being tortured or murdered.
It is this fear of being pursecuted which has become the driving force behind the relativly new procdeure… hymen reconstruction. It’s now possible in this day and age to get your hymen reattatched if you so desire. I’m not sure if it counts as cosmetic surgery and if your health insurance will cover the costs, LOL but doctors are making fortunes heeding cries of ‘doctor, make me a virgin again!’
It is in this line of thought, that I’ve made the conclusion, there is a definte distinction between genders.
Obviously there is no physical way to tell that a male is or isn’t a vigin. For a long, long time when a male lost his viriginty he became a hero but when a female did, she became a slut. It was not until the recent decades of the sexual revolution, equal rights and the women’s liberation movements to cause female virginity to lack its lustre (for lack of a better phrase). Yet why is virginity still seen as a femine concept? Generally it’s still a male dominance thing, the idea/fantasy for a male to go out and ‘conquer’ a female.
When you think of the word ‘virgin’, you don’t automatically think of a male, or do you? Well I don’t. My mind more readily automates a female image, it’s inbuilt, programmed in my system.
However, I’m not the only one wired to this idea. Ridley Scott, director of ‘Blade Runner’ , used the metaphore of a unicorn to represent Rachel.
A unicorn has long been the symbol of virginity and purity (being white), which ties in with Rachael’s status. Legend states that only a virgin could capture a unicorn.
Author Tennessee Williams also used the unicorn in ‘The Glass Menagerie’. The horn on the unicorn represented her physical handicap, preventing her from meeting people. When she finally did meet a man, they danced and knocked over the unicorn, breaking off its horn, symbolising that she had overcome her shyness, losing her virginity.
Another viginity tale is little Red Riding hood. Apparently this fable was once upon a time R rated. The wolf was a strange man who raped innocent red riding hood. It was essentially a coming of age story, a right of passage.
Concluding questions:
Does anyone know who the European royal was, who used to bathe in her virgin servants blood because she though it would keep her young and beautiful? And who’s betting for or against my own virginity? LOL Finally, do you think the virgin phenomenom gives an individual less or more power? Indulge me.