{"id":56389,"date":"2021-12-16T15:21:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T19:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=56389"},"modified":"2021-12-27T16:35:03","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T20:35:03","slug":"virginity-membrane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/","title":{"rendered":"Debunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014”Virginity Membrane”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is a hymen? Is the hymen a marker of a woman’s virginity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a common misconception that the hymen\u2014a membrane found at the opening of the vaginal canal\u2014is an indication of virginity. Because of its location and potential to change over the course of a woman\u2019s life, there\u2019s a common but incorrect belief that the hymen is a barrier that\u2019s permanently \u201cbroken\u201d the first time that a penis penetrates the vagina.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s debunk the myth of hymen or the “virginity membrane.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Is Hymen a Marker of Virginity?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Society has come to know the hymen as the “virginity membrane.” According to sex researcher Emily Nagoski, this misconception is dangerous because of the powerful impact it can have on women\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When an unmarried woman\u2019s hymen is absent or torn, she\u2019s seen as impure or marked as \u201cdamaged goods.\u201d In some cultures, this has resulted in women feeling pressured to have surgical reconstruction of their hymen as if it were a medical necessity. Nagoski adds that in some extreme cases, women are even beaten or killed because people have seen anything but a fully intact hymen as proof that she has had sexual intercourse outside of marriage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, Nagoski maintains that people have used the presence<\/em> of a hymen as proof that a woman couldn\u2019t have been raped, preventing her from seeking justice for the crime committed against her. The logic goes that if the hymen is a barrier and it\u2019s still intact, there was no penetration and thus no rape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nagoski concludes that the basis of these real-world consequences is an idea that\u2019s entirely false. In reality, the hymen serves no biological function<\/strong> (including being a barrier). Some women are born without them, and when they\u2019re present, they simply stretch with penetration. If they do happen to tear, they heal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: While Nagoski claims that the hymen is an evolutionary byproduct serving no real function, in reality, biologists don\u2019t agree about why it exists<\/a>. In addition to the virginity theory mentioned previously, other theories suggest that the hymen\u2019s purpose is to make sex painful\u2014therefore encouraging more caution amongst young women interested in sex\u2014or that it evolved to prevent foreign objects from accidentally entering the vagina.)  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hymen and Virginity Testing<\/strong>

Although Nagoski discusses some possible outcomes of evaluating the state of a woman\u2019s hymen, such as shame, the denial of rape, and even death, she doesn\u2019t provide information about how people conduct this evaluation. 

Both historically and cross-culturally, people have subjected women to so-called \u201cvirginity testing.\u201d Usually conducted by a doctor\u2014though sometimes carried out by other community members when a medical professional isn\u2019t available\u2014virginity testing is an invasive procedure that involves inspecting a woman\u2019s genitalia to determine whether her hymen is still intact. The World Health Organization (WHO), as well as other global organizations, condemns the practice as a human rights violation<\/a> and a violent act against women that has the potential to cause both physical and psychological harm.

Despite having no scientific merit, the practice is still used today in certain cultures around the world. As recently as 2020, for example, virginity testing was being used on rape victims in Pakistan<\/a> before the Lahore High Court banned it at the beginning of 2021.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is a hymen? Is the hymen a marker of a woman’s virginity? There is a common misconception that the hymen\u2014a membrane found at the opening of the vaginal canal\u2014is an indication of virginity. Because of its location and potential to change over the course of a woman\u2019s life, there\u2019s a common but incorrect belief that the hymen is a barrier that\u2019s permanently \u201cbroken\u201d the first time that a penis penetrates the vagina.\u00a0 Let’s debunk the myth of hymen or the “virginity membrane.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":29801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,24],"tags":[548],"class_list":["post-56389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","category-society","tag-come-as-you-are","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nDebunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014"Virginity Membrane" - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The hymen is a membrane found at the opening of the vaginal canal. Contrary to a common misconception, it is not an indication of virginity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Debunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014"Virginity Membrane"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The hymen is a membrane found at the opening of the vaginal canal. Contrary to a common misconception, it is not an indication of virginity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-16T19:21:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-27T20:35:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Debunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014”Virginity Membrane”\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-16T19:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-27T20:35:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/\"},\"wordCount\":572,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Come as You Are\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Science\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/\",\"name\":\"Debunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014\\\"Virginity Membrane\\\" - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-16T19:21:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-27T20:35:03+00:00\",\"description\":\"The hymen is a membrane found at the opening of the vaginal canal. Contrary to a common misconception, it is not an indication of virginity.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Debunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014”Virginity Membrane”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\",\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png\",\"caption\":\"Darya Sinusoid\"},\"description\":\"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Debunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014\"Virginity Membrane\" - Shortform Books","description":"The hymen is a membrane found at the opening of the vaginal canal. Contrary to a common misconception, it is not an indication of virginity.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Debunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014\"Virginity Membrane\"","og_description":"The hymen is a membrane found at the opening of the vaginal canal. Contrary to a common misconception, it is not an indication of virginity.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2021-12-16T19:21:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-27T20:35:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Darya Sinusoid","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Darya Sinusoid","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/"},"author":{"name":"Darya Sinusoid","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46"},"headline":"Debunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014”Virginity Membrane”","datePublished":"2021-12-16T19:21:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-27T20:35:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/"},"wordCount":572,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg","keywords":["Come as You Are"],"articleSection":["Science","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/","name":"Debunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014\"Virginity Membrane\" - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg","datePublished":"2021-12-16T19:21:00+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-27T20:35:03+00:00","description":"The hymen is a membrane found at the opening of the vaginal canal. Contrary to a common misconception, it is not an indication of virginity.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/virginity-membrane\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Debunking the Myth of Hymen\u2014”Virginity Membrane”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46","name":"Darya Sinusoid","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Untitled-design-1.png","caption":"Darya Sinusoid"},"description":"Darya\u2019s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain\/mind\/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/darya\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/plant-pink-flower-sexuality-virginity.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56389"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57184,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56389\/revisions\/57184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}