VIRGINITY IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT
Virginity:
- is sexist
- is heteronormative
- commodifies sex
- commodifies young cis-het white women
- contributes to rape culture
- contributes to slut-shaming
- erases queer folk
- erases transfolk
- frames a woman’s worth as inversely proportional to the number of dicks that have been inside her
and much, much more!
I do not know why it says “commodifies young cis-het white women” specifically, because the concept of virginity commodifies more bodies than just those.
I understand that it affects straight and cis women the most, as virginity is usually defined in terms of penis-in-vagina sex, but I know I’ve seen Women of Colour objectified and valued based on “experience” - I’ve read many a discussion, for example, on how much “better” non-Western women are than Western women because of “obedience” and “traditional values” (a very typical racist stereotype of Middle-Eastern and Asian women) which would include placing worth on virginity. Conversely, other WoC are *de*valued because they are stereotyped to be hypersexual, and therefore not virgins.
And though heterosexual sex is usually the type being discussed, worth is still placed on the “purity” of the bodies of queer women, and they are still expected to have a virginity and then to lose it (because women are expected to have (PIV) sex and become mothers under the patriarchal/heteronormative culture), and are fetishized for many reasons, which could include having never been with a man (being “untouched” and therefore “more valuable”).
I admit that my experiences are not broad enough to give a conclusive answer as to why the author chose to write it that way, and my reading may also be limited by my own privilege, culture and circumstance. Can someone possibly illuminate something I’ve missed?
Putting this up again since I noticed more discussion on the topic that seemed to confirm my hunches…
