Virginity: A Historical Contextual Analysis

The following paper will examine the practice of valuing female pre-marriage virginity and the effect this value has on young girls worldwide. We will primarily explore virgin valuing as it exists in contemporary American culture, however, we will also look cross culturally to better widen our understanding of this practice. This issue is of interest to me because, as a feminist, I think it is important to challenge systematic ideologies that repress gender equality but as an anthropologist I think it’s important to understand and honor the complex cultural and historical context behind controversial issues. The following paper will attempt to navigate why placing a premium of female virginity is controversial, what both sides of this argument

The basic argument goes that by placing a cultural emphasis on virginity we are only hurting young girls and women. By emphasizing a "purity" that we actually “don’t have a working medical definition for,” (Blank, 2007) we are treating women and girls like a commodities in stead of encouraging safe and healthy sexual behavior. By perpetuating “the cult of virginity” as feminist author Jessica Valenti calls it, (Valenti, 2009) we are supporting a dangerous narrative about young women and sex that “conflates sexuality and morality constantly” (Valenti, 2009). This issue has become controversial because it is situated in the middle of a debate about how we, as Americans, value women in our

Those that argue against keeping a premium on female virginity look to current American pop culture and say that women and girls are being forced into a difficult double standard. While the sexualization of women runs rampant in the media we still idolize them for there purity. Young girls are suppose to be desirable and sexy but not cross the line into slutty. Every day girls and young women are more and more sexualized but are at the same time faced with “abstinence movements arming to control their sexuality” (Shaw & Lee, 2015). For many this is an impossible line to walk. Arguments against also claim that that notion of valuing female virginity “has always been deeply entrenched in patriarchy and male ownership”(Valenti, 2009) and that a women’s sexuality should not be our most defining