For thousands of years, one’s virginity has been seen in many different cultures as the most important gift a woman could give to her husband on their wedding night. Also, virginity has been the indicator of purity and divinity in major religious traditions, with two of the most noted examples being the Virgin Mary, of course, and Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom, law, and justice in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Fast-forward to contemporary Western society, where the word virginity is viewed with distaste, and the thing itself is seen as a shameful quality of usually a young person who has to get rid of it as soon as possible.
What has happened over time that has led the once-precious stock, so to speak, of someone’s virginity (particularly women) to lose its value in modern times? Obviously, a great many things have changed in the last century alone, but it appears that nowadays, more than ever before, an increasing number of young men and women see sex as a natural thing to do and not the taboo that it used to be. However, the list of 10 Unique Things We’ve Learned About Virginity Over the Years that follows might make you feel like some values are timeless.
Virginity is not the only issue related to sex out there. If you want to learn even more facts about human sexuality, check out these odd and bizarre facts about sex.
10
The term virgin is related to the Latin root virga, meaning “young shoot,” and virginem, meaning “maiden, unwedded girl or woman, fresh, unused.”
Source: virginity-facts.html, Image: Wikipedia
9
The word virgin appeared for the first time in the English language in the ninth century, but initially only applied to women.
Source: virginity-facts.html, Image: Wikipedia
8
Throughout the centuries pearls have been seen in many cultures as a symbol of female virginity and purity, especially in the context of marriage or religious portraits.
Source: virginity-facts.html, Image: commons.wikimedia.org
7
Another popular symbol of virginity is the unicorn. According to various world traditions, only virgins could tame unicorns, meaning only virgins could calm male elements with their female ones.
Source: virginity-facts.html, Image: Wikipedia
6
Flowers have traditionally been associated with female sexuality because they suggest growth and fertility and visually resemble female genitalia. To be more specific, the lily is almost exclusively associated with virginity, and its white petals and golden stamen are a visual reminder of the act of penetration.
Source: virginity-facts.html, Image: commons.wikimedia.org
5
Have you ever heard the phrase “a lord’s right”? If you’ve seen Braveheart, you may recall it. For those of you who haven’t seen the film or know the phrase, it referred to a bizarre and tragic medieval legal right in Britain that allowed the lord of an estate to take the virginity of the estate’s virgins on their wedding night.
Source: virginity-facts.html, Image: Wikipedia
4
In certain countries, one’s virginity was sold as a valuable commodity. In Japan, for example, geishas would sell their virginity in a ritual called mizuage, but that ritual became illegal in 1959.
Source: virginity-facts.html, Image: Wikipedia
3
“Technical virginity” is a phrase and concept used to describe a person who has engaged in other types of sex such as anal and oral but not vaginal.
Source: virginity-facts.html, Image: Wikipedia
2
The Aztecs believed avocados were so sexually powerful that virgins were banned from eating them.
Source: virginity-facts.html, Image: Wikipedia
1
According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the demand for hymenoplasty, or revirgination, has been one of the fastest-growing surgeries in the past few years.
Source: virginity-facts.html, Image: Wikipedia
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