Women's Studies 2161A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Moral Panic, Condom, Orgasm
30 Apr 2018
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The Cult of Virginity:
• Losing virginity didn’t mark becoming woman
• Societal standards have believe day became morally sullied- fail see how anything last
less 5 mins can have such inedible ethical impact
• Only meaning had (besides little bit pain and lots postcoital embarrassment) was meaning
her and partner ascribed to it/ so thought- didn’t count meaning parents, peers and soc
would imbue it w on my behalf
• Sexually active teen= term often used in tandem w at risk/ warnings alongside drugs and
alch, regardless how uncontroversial sex itself had been
• Whenever date assumed having sex b/c sexuality def lose virginity- no longer
discriminating, no longer “good”
• Mom found empty condom wrapper before graduated and said didn’t stop having sex no-
one would want to marry
• Everyone has own story but common themes many young W’s sexual journeys-
sometimes shame, violence, pleasure and sometimes simply nothing write home about
• Idea of virginity (or loss thereof) can profoundly affect W’s lives not new- used punish
W and roll back rights is core purity myth
• Today, world porn cult and reenergized abstinence movements collide, moral panic myth
about young W’s supposed promiscuity diverting attention from real prob- W still being
judged (sometimes to death) on something doesn’t really exist: virginity
The virginity mystery:
• No diagnostic standard for virginity- either book wouldn’t mention virginity at all or it
would provide a definition that wasn’t medical, but subjective
• People have been talking authoritatively about virginity thousands of years, yet don’t
have working medical def for it
• Now refers virginity as state having not had partnered sex- what is sex= heterosexual
intercourse have to come to conclusion all lesbians and gay men virgins, and dif kinds
intimacy, like oral sex mean nothing- even using straight sex guide= what is penetration?
• Most people count sex as penetration, some say oral- lesbian= not sex until had orgasm-
pleasure-based, non-heteronormative way marking intimacy ever heard one
• That way def sex not v pop among straight-M sect, given some prob end up counting
many partners- virginity too subjective to pretend can define it
• Social phenomenon- emphasis on virginity, part W, causes lot more harm than good
• Virgin almost synonymous w women- outside occasional ref M virgin form goofy movie
about horny teenage boys, virginity pretty much all about women
• Inextricable relationship b/w sexual purity and W- either virgins/ not- makes concept
virginity so damaging
• Hard dismiss virginity as know it altogether, considering meaning has in so many
people’s- esp W’s- lives- suggest virginity lie told to women, don’t aim discount/ make
light important current social idea virginity some people
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• Culture, religion and social beliefs infl role virginity and sexuality play in W’s lives-
sometimes v positively
• Argue end idea virginity, b/c believe sexual intimacy should be honoured and respected,
but shouldn’t be revered at expense women’s well-being/ seen as integral part F ident end
up def ourselves by sexuality
• Can’t discount no matter what personal meaning each women gives virginity, people who
have social and political influence ultimately decide what virginity means- at least, as
affects women on large scale
Virginity: Commodity, morality or farce?
• Hard know when start caring about virginity but do know men/ M-led institutions, have
always been ones def and assign value to virginity
• Long-standing interest in virginity about est paternity (marry virgin, can be reasonably
sure child bears is his) and using women’s sexuality as commodity- deeply entrenched in
patriarchy and male ownership
• That’s why people had sex ref damaged goods- b/c literally that: something owned,
traded, bought and sold
• Not just wedding trads/ outdated laws name W’s virginity as commodity, W’s virginity,
our sexuality, still assigned value by movement w more power and influence in American
society than prob like to admit- virginity movement= conservatives and evangelical
Christians at hem w gov, school system and social institutions taking orders
• Targeted and well-funded backlash rolling back women’s rights using revamped and
modernized defs purity, morality and sexuality- goals mired old-school gender roles and
tool using young w’s sexuality
• Members of virginity movement are people def virginity- and large extent sexuality- in
America- now instead women’s virginity explicitly bought and sold w dowries and
business deals, being def little more than stand-in for actual morality
• Shame W into being chaste and all have to do be “good” not have sex (chastity and purity
as def virginity movement, not just about abstaining sexually so much upholding specific,
passive model of womanhood)
• For W esp, virginity become easy answer- morality quick fix= virgin are good and
deserve praise regardless other quals but also stand-in for women’s morality means
nothing else matters- not what accomplish, think, care about and work for
• Interesting state of affairs when W simply do, nothing in order be considered ethical role
models- but plenty W across country is special- staying pure and innocent greatest thing
can do
• Equating inaction w morality not only problematic b/c cont tie W’s ethics to bodies but
also downright insulting b/c suggests women can’t be moral actors- instead ethics are
ethics of passivity (fits perf how virginity movement defines ideal W)
• Proponents chastity and abstinence, though, would have us believe abstaining indeed
requires strength and action- questionable passive virgin in modern society
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