In this day and age, many people are confused by exactly what it means to be a virgin. But does it really matter? dr. Karen Rayne doesn't think so. According to her blog, it is just a way of categorizes people, giving them titles as soon as we look at them.
“Do you know what sexual acts they have done? Because if you don’t know, then having a definition of virginity won’t help you. If you do know, then why does it matter whether those acts can be defined as virginal?”
According to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, the word virgin used to be much more clear-cut: In medival times it was a word for for a girl who had never engaged in vaginal intercourse. The greeks used it to refer to goddesses who had never fallen for the seductions of Dionysus. Today, it can refer to both genders, and may or may not include other sexual acts such as masterbation or oral sex.
But if Dr. Rayne is right, it doesn't matter what we define virgin to be. When I first read the blog, I was tempted to disagree. But the more I thought about, the less justification I could find for my stance. Certainly asking a significant other if they are a virgin is easier than asking them if they have had oral, or made out without clothing on. Or when a parent asks you if you are a virgin, you can easily say "Yes" when you really mean "I've done everything but."
But in reality, the word virgin is just a label so we can categorize them immediately and then stereotype them. The word will never mean exactly the same thing for everyone again, so I do not believe it really has a place in today's society anymore.
http://www.pamf.org/teen/sex/virginity/defining.html
http://karenrayne.com/2008/06/16/virginity-virgin-virginal-are-you/
I have not thought about virginity in along time. I never even considered that there might be other meanings or just a way to group people. Interesting blog.
There were always in me, two women at least,
one woman desperate and bewildered,
who felt she was drowning and another who
would leap into a scene, as upon a stage,
conceal her true emotions because they
were weaknesses, helplessness, despair,
and
"But in reality, the word virgin is just a label so we can categorize them immediately and then stereotyping them."
I disagree. I don't believe that everyone who uses the word virgin has the intentions of stereotyping or categorizing anyone.
Find out everything you need to know about poop here:
http://progressiveu.org/000701-everything-you-need-know-about-poop
No, that's probably not the reason why most people use the word. But giving it a name certainly allows us to stereotype each other and categorize them, and I think that is the purpose of having the word and defining it.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/tricia0711
Isn't that what most words are for?
Labels also give very false impressions to those without a given label.
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There were always in me, two women at least,
one woman desperate and bewildered,
who felt she was drowning and another who
would leap into a scene, as upon a stage,
conceal her true emotions because they
were weaknesses, helplessness, despair,
and
Good point. I also don't think that the idea of a word having different meanings to different people is enough to "abolish" it. What does love mean to you? Probably not the same thing as it does to me, but we don't need to ban everyone from using the word.
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Great blog And thats whats up