Concept of virginity creates unfair standard

Sex is a common feature in society. It’s on the radio, TV and movie screens — it’s everywhere. Yet there’s a taboo surrounding virginity, specifically a woman’s virginity, that people refuse to discuss.

For centuries, civilizations placed enormous emphasis on a woman’s virginity, with some cultures seeing it as a sign of innocence, and others seeing losing one’s virginity as a rite of passage. Numerous cultures highly value female virginity, sometimes even trusting it with certain religious beliefs or rituals. This is seen throughout Christianity, most prominently with the Virgin Mary, who’s virginity is highly valued.

But in other societies, as in the current Western culture, a woman’s virginity separates her from her male counterparts, either making her pure or tainted — a prude or a whore.

In many societies, when a girl loses her virginity before marriage, she becomes a whore. People see her as impure and slutty. Society has made women believe no man wants to be with someone who “gets around.” Yet, guys have no taboo surrounding their virginity; they celebrate when they finally “become a man,” as does the rest of Western society.

This creates unequal, unobtainable standards to which girls are held. Society says “if you have sex, you’re a slut, but you should still be able to put out for a guy when he wants it.”

This view of a woman based solely on her sexual activity not only places unrealistic expectations in today’s age, but turns a woman into a commodity.

That being said, virginity is a social construct created by society and used to hold women to a higher standard than men. This forces women to conform to what a society says they should be.

Society should not judge a woman based on the status of her virginity, especially when men are not held to the same social construct.

In some cultures, including some Arab and Hispanic ones, women have to prove their virginity before and even on their wedding night in order to be considered “acceptable” brides.

If a woman doesn’t “pass” this test, she’s treated as an outsider or as unfit for marriage. Societies use the existence of the hymen, the thin membrane across the vagina, as a way to prove virginity, when in fact, it can have nothing to do with sexual activity.

According to Palo Alto Medical Foundation, the hymen can break or thin out by adolescence because of normal activity such as riding bikes or using tampons. Therefore, expecting a woman’s hymen to be intact by the time she’s an adult is absurd.

But despite many efforts to change this concept, including many modern-day films, female sexuality is still frowned upon and suppressed. So, how does society change this long-set standard?

Stop calling a girl a whore just because her hymen isn’t intact and stop viewing a woman’s virginity as more sacred than a man’s. No gender’s virginity is more valuable than another’s. Sorry Western culture, but no woman’s vagina is someone’s business or jurisdiction.