The article, The Cult of Virginity, by Jessica Valenti, is about how the idea of “virginity” is made up by society in order to control women and shame them for breaking this so-called norm. There is not a medical definition of virginity because it does not exist. Virginity is a title that men gave to young women in order to control them. So much pressure is put on young women to not be sexually promiscuous and to stay moral and pure. Women are not praised for their intelligence, independence, or achievements, instead they are praised for doing absolutely nothing and staying pure and morally correct. This huge emphasis on virginity goes all the way back to the time where men would give their daughters away and if they were not a virgin anymore
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Young women and girls are constantly bombarded with images of virginity in the media. Pop stars are praised for starting their careers off as innocent and pure young women and then as soon as they grow up and start to experience the world on their own terms the media trashes them and slut shames them. Sex is a natural part of life and now-a-day’s people are getting married later in life and it is unrealistic to expect all women to wait until marriage to have sex. Whether a women is having sex or practicing abstinence is nobody’s business but her own and no one has the right to judge her. For some reason whenever women have sex people assume that she is now a slut because if she did it once there is nothing stopping her from doing it again. Society seems to think that all men are supposed to be sexually experience while every woman is supposed to be abstinent and pure. The social norm in this country about sex makes absolutely no sense and it is literally impossible for anyone to actually live up to it. Virginity is technically not a real thing; it is a word that people made up and use for the sole purpose of shaming women who refuse to …show more content…
Men have always been the ones who run our country and they have done everything in their power to control women. The word virginity is a patriarchal word that should not be used anymore. Considering that there is no medical definition or even a solid normative definition, the word is clearly used to force conformity and not to describe a medical normality. Women realize that it is unrealistic to expect every girl to remain abstinent until marriage, but men still think otherwise while also expecting women to have sex with them whenever they want. As a college student, I have seen countless times, a guy trying to get a girl to come home with him and when the girl refuses he starts to curse her out and call her a slut and a whore and a bitch. There is a disgusting double standard in this country and it gets to the point where women are unable to win anything because no matter what they do they are not good enough. If she wants to have sex she is a slut, if she wants to abstain she is a prude, if she dressed provocatively but does not want sex she is a tease. Girls get mixed signals constantly, they are told that in order to be a good girl and remain moral she has to stay a virgin, but eventually that girl is going to hit an age where society makes her feels like it is weird that she is still a virgin, but the minute she loses her virginity she turns into a slut. Men are able to
Young women and girls are constantly bombarded with images of virginity in the media. Pop stars are praised for starting their careers off as innocent and pure young women and then as soon as they grow up and start to experience the world on their own terms the media trashes them and slut shames them. Sex is a natural part of life and now-a-day’s people are getting married later in life and it is unrealistic to expect all women to wait until marriage to have sex. Whether a women is having sex or practicing abstinence is nobody’s business but her own and no one has the right to judge her. For some reason whenever women have sex people assume that she is now a slut because if she did it once there is nothing stopping her from doing it again. Society seems to think that all men are supposed to be sexually experience while every woman is supposed to be abstinent and pure. The social norm in this country about sex makes absolutely no sense and it is literally impossible for anyone to actually live up to it. Virginity is technically not a real thing; it is a word that people made up and use for the sole purpose of shaming women who refuse to …show more content…
Men have always been the ones who run our country and they have done everything in their power to control women. The word virginity is a patriarchal word that should not be used anymore. Considering that there is no medical definition or even a solid normative definition, the word is clearly used to force conformity and not to describe a medical normality. Women realize that it is unrealistic to expect every girl to remain abstinent until marriage, but men still think otherwise while also expecting women to have sex with them whenever they want. As a college student, I have seen countless times, a guy trying to get a girl to come home with him and when the girl refuses he starts to curse her out and call her a slut and a whore and a bitch. There is a disgusting double standard in this country and it gets to the point where women are unable to win anything because no matter what they do they are not good enough. If she wants to have sex she is a slut, if she wants to abstain she is a prude, if she dressed provocatively but does not want sex she is a tease. Girls get mixed signals constantly, they are told that in order to be a good girl and remain moral she has to stay a virgin, but eventually that girl is going to hit an age where society makes her feels like it is weird that she is still a virgin, but the minute she loses her virginity she turns into a slut. Men are able to