Essay About Virginity

History and Meaning of Virginity

Virginity is one word that people think they know about when in fact, the meanings they attach the word to come from a blurry etymology dating back to the time of the ancient Greeks.

From the Greek and Latin word “Virgo” or maiden, virginity was used to classify Greek goddesses such as Artemis and Hestia indicating strength and independence resisting Dionysius’ seduction and was even used as a term of power (Defining Virginity, 2013).

Stated in the article Defining Virginity (2013) is that virginity became a sexual term in the Middle Ages where it meant a woman’s vagina not having been penetrated yet by a man’s penis. The article further goes to say that women are expected to have an in-tact hymen until married, thus, had to prove their virginity by taking tests of chastity. Up until this time, many cultures still have high regard for virginity until marriage. One of which cultures, is the Philippines.

But defining virginity today just got

In Christianity, the Virgin Mary is a significant symbol of chastity having had an immaculate conception giving birth to Jesus Christ; “the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). The Islam’s Qur’an mentions that paradise will have fair females (Houris) and make them virgins; “And (there will be) Houris (fair females) with wide, lovely eyes (as wives for the pious), like unto preserved pearls… And made them virgins…” (Qur’an, 54:54-55). Religions are great sources of the social construction Filipinos have on virginity today. Being a largely Roman Catholic country, Filipinos have associated virginity with the greatest gift a woman can give to her husband. In Hebrew 13:4, it was clearly stated that “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” thus, making all who had already engaged in pre-marital