Book 6!
Book 6: Virgin: the Untouched History, by Hanne Blank
Virgin: the Untouched History, was about just that: the history of virginity. Comprised of two parts, it discussed both the ideas on what makes a person a virgin, going into detail about the physicality and parts used to tell if a woman is a virgin or not, as well as discussing the societal views of virginity throughout history and in the present, and what factors contributed to these views.
The first part of the book, entitled Virginology, discussed the ideas of the hymen throughout past and present times. It described different types of this body part (who even knew there was more than one "kind" of hymen?), the ideas of doctors about the topic, and practices that people thought would effect this idea.
The second part of the book, entitled Virgin Culture, was the section I found much more interesting. It discussed how virginity was viewed from social, moral, and political standpoints, as well as discussing the changing meanings of virginity, abstinence, and being "chaste." For example, did you know that you could be chaste when married? All you had to do was abstain from copious amounts of sex, and make sure, when you did have sex, that it was always with your partner, and that it was not deviant? This section also discussed the interest in societ about virginity and how its importance has changed in more recent years. Another discussion topic it brought up was the idea that virgins are thought to be very erotic to some men, mentioning ways in how "virgin porn" is different from the regular porn industry.
All in all, this book was very interesting, but it took FOREVER to read because it was a slightly dry, and there was always a lot of information crammed into each section. I feel like I should have taken notes. :)
Virgin: the Untouched History, was about just that: the history of virginity. Comprised of two parts, it discussed both the ideas on what makes a person a virgin, going into detail about the physicality and parts used to tell if a woman is a virgin or not, as well as discussing the societal views of virginity throughout history and in the present, and what factors contributed to these views.
The first part of the book, entitled Virginology, discussed the ideas of the hymen throughout past and present times. It described different types of this body part (who even knew there was more than one "kind" of hymen?), the ideas of doctors about the topic, and practices that people thought would effect this idea.
The second part of the book, entitled Virgin Culture, was the section I found much more interesting. It discussed how virginity was viewed from social, moral, and political standpoints, as well as discussing the changing meanings of virginity, abstinence, and being "chaste." For example, did you know that you could be chaste when married? All you had to do was abstain from copious amounts of sex, and make sure, when you did have sex, that it was always with your partner, and that it was not deviant? This section also discussed the interest in societ about virginity and how its importance has changed in more recent years. Another discussion topic it brought up was the idea that virgins are thought to be very erotic to some men, mentioning ways in how "virgin porn" is different from the regular porn industry.
All in all, this book was very interesting, but it took FOREVER to read because it was a slightly dry, and there was always a lot of information crammed into each section. I feel like I should have taken notes. :)