Has Virginity Lost Its Virtue? Relationship Stigma Associated with Being a Sexually Inexperienced Adult

While virginity prior to marriage has been historically valued, changing sociosexual scripts in the United States have made premarital sexual activity the norm for young adults, with sexual debut generally occurring in late adolescence. 

In the current research, we examined the impact of being developmentally off-time with first coitus (i.e., not yet engaging in coitus when most same-aged peers have done so). Specifically, we investigated stigma toward sexually inexperienced adults and discrimination regarding romantic relationship formation. 

Across three methodologically diverse studies we observed that sexually inexperienced adults perceived themselves to be stigmatized due to their inexperience and that sexually inexperienced adults were not highly desired as relationship partners. 

Even sexually inexperienced adults themselves did not find other inexperienced adults to be attractive relationship partners. 

Although abstaining from sexual activity may bestow some health advantages, our studies show that being a sexual "late bloomer" may result in negative interpersonal consequences such as limited opportunities for romantic relationships.

Below:  Target’s attractiveness as a function of age of target and participant.

Below:  Target’s attractiveness as a function of sexual experience of target and participant

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/lN9B5d

By:  Gesselman AN1, Webster GD2, Garcia JR3.

• 1 The Kinsey Institute , Indiana University , Bloomington.
• 2 Department of Psychology , University of Florida.
• 3 The Kinsey Institute and Department of Gender Studies , Indiana University , Bloomington.
• J Sex Res. 2016 Mar 16:1-12 

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Young Age at First Intercourse & Subsequent Risk-Taking Behaviour: An Epidemiological Study of More than 20,000 Danish Men from the General Population

AIM:

First intercourse at the age of 14 years or younger is usually considered high-risk behaviour for sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It has been linked to other types of risky behaviour in women, while conflicting results have been obtained for men. The aim of the study was to estimate the prevalence of first intercourse at a young age in various birth cohorts of men and to determine any association with later risky behaviour.

METHODS:

We studied 22,979 randomly selected men aged 18-45 years from the Danish general male population who responded to a self-administered questionnaire. Multiple sexual partners over a lifetime, multiple new sexual partners within the past 6 months, intercourse with a commercial sex worker, having an STI, binge drinking and current smoking were considered risky behaviour.

RESULTS:

First intercourse at the age of 14 years or younger was more prevalent in younger (14%) than in older (10%) birth cohorts and among men with shorter schooling. Young age at sexual debut was associated with a more than twofold increase in the risks for subsequent risky behaviour.

CONCLUSIONS:

More than 10% of Danish men first had sex at an early age, and this was closely related to subsequent risk-taking behaviour.

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By:  Buttmann N1, Nielsen A1, Munk C1, Frederiksen K2, Liaw KL3, Kjaer SK4.

• 1Virus, Lifestyle and Genes, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• 2Statistics, Bioinformatics and Registries, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• 3Merck Research Laboratories, North Wales, PA, USA.
• 4Virus, Lifestyle and Genes, Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark Department of Gynaecology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark susanne@cancer.dk. 
• Scand J Public Health. 2014 Aug;42(6):511-7. doi: 10.1177/1403494814538123. Epub 2014 Jun 6.

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What Are the Characteristics of 'Sexually Ready' Adolescents? Exploring the Sexual Readiness of Youth in Urban Poor Accra, Ghana

BACKGROUND:

Adolescent sexual activity, especially among the urban poor, remains a challenge. Despite numerous interventions and programs to address the negative consequences arising from early and frequent sexual activity among youth in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana, only slight progress has been made. A plausible explanation is that our understanding of what adolescents think about sex and about their own sexuality is poor. In that sense, examining how adolescents in urban poor communities think about their sexual readiness, and identifying characteristics associated with that sexual self-concept dimension, should deepen our understanding of this topical issue.

METHODS:

A total of 196 male and female adolescents, ages 12 to 19, were surveyed in the 2011 RIPS Urban Health and Poverty Project in Accra, Ghana. The youth responded to three statements which determined their levels of sexual readiness. Other background characteristics were also obtained enabling the assessment of the correlates of their preparedness to engage in sex. The data were analyzed using ordered logistic regression models.

RESULTS:

Overall, the majority of respondents did not consider themselves ready for sex. Multivariate analyses indicated that sexual experience, exposure to pornographic movies, gender, ethnicity and household wealth were significantly linked to their readiness for sex.

CONCLUSION:

Sexual readiness is related to sexual activity as well as other characteristics of the adolescents, suggesting the need to consider these factors in the design of programs and interventions to curb early sex. The subject of sexual readiness has to be investigated further to ensure adolescents do not identify with any negative effects of this sexual self-view.

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/qA9IoE

By:  Biney AA1, Dodoo FN2,3.

• 1Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG96, Legon, Accra, Ghana. abiney@rips-ug.edu.gh.
• 2Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, P. O. Box LG96, Legon, Accra, Ghana. duf2@psu.edu.
• 3211 Oswald Tower, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. duf2@psu.edu.
• BMC Public Health. 2016 Jan 5;16(1):9. doi: 10.1186/s12889-015-2620-6. 

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Wrestling with the Hymen: Consultations and Practical Solutions

OBJECTIVE:

To study the consultation and treatment options for young women who desire revirgination surgery, and to offer recommendations.

METHODS:

During her initial visit to a Dutch clinic, each of these women discussed with a physician her reasons for consulting and the treatment options.

RESULTS:

One hundred and fifty-four women sought advice for virginity-related issues. They were planning to marry or had experienced some form of sexual violence. Of these, 48 chose hymen reconstruction (HR), 26 a temporary hymen suture (THS), and 27 to resort to some expedient for staining the sheets or to another alternative for surgery. At follow-up, 13 of the 17 women who had THS and six of the 11 who had HR reported blood loss on their wedding night, whereas all six women who inserted a capsule with food colouring stated they had stained the sheets.

CONCLUSIONS:

Cost-effective procedures help young women who are no longer virgins to avoid reprisals by their husband or family. Pelvic floor exercises will tighten the vaginal opening. THS seems more effective than HR for producing blood loss. There are alternatives should no blood loss occur during penetration.

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By:   Loeber O1.

• 1Rutgershuis Oost , Arnhem , the Netherlands. 

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“Dude, I’m Seventeen … It’s Okay Not to Have Sex by This Age”: Feelings, Reasons, Pressures, and Intentions Reported by Adolescents Who Have Not Had Sexual Intercourse

This study investigated feelings, reasons, pressures, and previous sexual experiences reported by students who have not had sexual intercourse and how these factors are associated with self-rated likelihood of having sex during the next year. 

Using data from the Fifth National Survey of Australian Secondary Students and Sexual Health (n = 783), this study found, in general, students had positive feelings about not having sex. Reasons for not having sex such as being proud to say no and not being ready were rated higher in importance than fear of potential outcomes or religious/cultural beliefs. 

Students reported limited pressure from parents and friends and, despite not having sexual intercourse, more than half of the sample had experienced some form of sexual activity. Stronger likelihoods of having sex during the next year were reported by students who had previously engaged in other sexual practices, reported more pressure from friends to have sex, and had negative feelings about not having sex. 

Sexuality educators can use these findings to guide approaches to sex education, emphasizing feelings, intentions, and reasoning over fear tactics. Discussion of a range of sexual practices will address more closely the experiences of young students as they begin their sexual lives.

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By:   Wendy Heywood^a*, Kent Patrick^a, Marian Pitts^a & Anne Mitchell^a

• ^a Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University 

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Ask a Homo: When Does a Lesbian Lose Her Virginity?

Via:  http://goo.gl/CZRC6a  By:  https://twitter.com/junethomas

Zero Tolerance Against Patriarchal Norms? A Cross-Sectional Study of Swedish Physicians' Attitudes Towards Young Females Requesting Virginity Certificates or Hymen Restoration

Many countries, Sweden among them, lack professional guidelines and established procedures for responding to young females requesting virginity certificates or hymen restoration due to honour-related threats. 

The purpose of the present survey study was to further examine the attitudes of the Swedish healthcare professionals concerned towards young females requesting virginity certificates or hymen restorations. The study indicates that a small majority of Swedish general practitioners and gynaecologists would accommodate these patients, at least given certain circumstances. But a large minority of physicians would under no circumstances help the young females, regardless of speciality, years of practice within medicine, gender, or experience of the phenomenon. Their responses are similar to other areas where it has been claimed that society should adopt a zero tolerance policy against certain phenomena, for instance drug policy, where it has also been argued that society should never act in ways that express support for the practice in question. However, this argument is questionable. 

A more pragmatic approach would also allow for follow-ups and evaluation of virginity certificates and hymen restorations, as is demonstrated by the Dutch policy. Hence, there are some obvious advantages to this pragmatic approach compared to the restrictive one espoused by a large minority of Swedish physicians and Swedish policy-makers in this area.

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/F8uupm

By:  Juth N1, Lynöe N1.

• 1Stockholm Centre for Healthcare Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. 

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Hymen Reconstruction as Pragmatic Empowerment? Results of a Qualitative Study from Tunisia

Hymen reconstruction surgery (HR), while ethically controversial, is now available in many countries. Little clinical evidence and hardly any surgical standards support the intervention. Nearly as scarce is social science research exploring women's motivations for the intervention, and health care professionals' justifications for its provision. 

In order to better understand decision-making processes, we conducted semi-structured interviews in metropolitan Tunis, in 2009, with six women seeking the procedure, four friends who supported such women, four physicians who perform the operation, and one midwife. 

Health care professionals and patient companions expressed moral ambivalence about HR: although they could comprehend the individual situation of the women, they expressed concern that availability of the procedure might further entrench the patriarchal norms that compel the motivation for seeking HR in the first place. Some women seeking HR shared this concern, but felt it was not outweighed by their personal aims, which were to marry and become mothers, or to overcome past violent sexual experiences. 

The women felt HR to be uniquely helpful in achieving these aims; all made pragmatic decisions about their bodies in a social environment dominated by patriarchal norms. The link between HR and pervasive gender injustice, including the credible threat of serious social and physical harm to women perceived to have failed to uphold the norm of virginity before marriage, raises questions about health care professionals' responsibility while facing requests for HR. 

Meaningful regulatory guidance must acknowledge that these genuine harms are at stake; it must do so, however, without resorting to moral double standards. We recommend a reframing of HR as a temporary resource for some women making pragmatic choices in a context of structural gender injustice. We reconfirm the importance of factual sexual and reproductive education, most importantly to counter distorted beliefs that conflate an "intact hymen" with virginity.

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By: Wild V1, Poulin H2, McDougall CW3, Stöckl A4, Biller-Andorno N5.

• 1University of Zurich, Switzerland; Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany. Electronic address: wild@ethik.uzh.ch.
• 2EHESS, Paris, France.
• 3University of Toronto, Canada.
• 4University of East Anglia, Norwich, Great Britain, United Kingdom.
• 5University of Zurich, Switzerland.  

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Are There Morally Relevant Differences between Hymen Restoration and Bloodless Treatment for Jehovah's Witnesses?

Hymen reconstruction is a controversial measure performed to help young females under threat of honour-related violence. Official guidelines often reject offering hymen reconstructions. On the other hand, extraordinary measures in order to enable operations of Jehovah's Witnesses who want a bloodless operation in order to avoid religiously related sanctions are often considered praiseworthy. The aim is thus to examine whether or not there are relevant differences between these two measures.

We identified twelve potential differences. One difference could be considered relevant (patient-safety), but in favour of hymenoplastic operations.

Since we did not identify enough relevant differences to justify offering bloodless operations to Jehovah's Witnesses but not offering hymen reconstruction due to honour-related norms, we conclude that these two groups of patients should be treated equally. This means that neither of the patient groups should be offered these extraordinary operations or that both groups of patients should be offered such operations. Similarly, there are no reasons for judging those who perform the operations differently.

Full article at: http://goo.gl/TVCWvh

By: Juth N1, Lynøe N.

• 1Stockholm Centre for Healthcare Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, LIME, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden. niklas.juth@ki.se.  

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Penises Not Required: A Systematic Review of the Potential for Human Papillomavirus Horizontal Transmission That Is Non-Sexual or Does Not Include Penile Penetration

The primary mode of human papillomavirus (HPV) transmission is through penetrative sex; however, there is evidence of other modes of transmission. No systematic review was found that focussed on HPV horizontal transmission that is not penocentric. A systematic review of the literature by searching Medline (Ovid), PubMed (NLM) and Embase (Ovid) was conducted to retrieve articles published from 1946 to March 2014. Studies that suggested evidence of non-sexual or non-penetrative sexual transmission of α-HPV genotypes were included. After review of 2061 titles and abstracts, 51 studies were abstracted. Fifteen studies examined HPV fomites from medical settings or public environments, and 36 examined HPV in humans. 

Human papillomavirus DNA was detected in the genital tract of female virgins, with prevalence estimates ranging from 0% to 51.1%. HPV transmission from hands to genitals or genitals to hands was reported for both sexes and heterosexual couples. 

Other studies commonly found HPV on surfaces in medical settings and public environments. Further studies on non-sexual and non-penetrative sexual transmission are needed to understand the complexity of HPV transmission. 

Health-care policies may need to be reassessed/established to ensure the safety of medical instruments and to reduce the risk of HPV nosocomial infection.

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By: Zhiyue Liu ^A, Tasnuva Rashid ^A and Alan G. Nyitray ^A B C 

^A Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, School of Public Health, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1200 Pressler Street, Houston, TX 77030, USA. 
^B Center for Infectious Diseases, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 1200 Pressler Street, Houston, TX 77030, USA. 
^C Corresponding author. Email: alan.g.nyitray@uth.tmc.edu 

  

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Virgin College Students' Reasons for and Reactions to Their Abstinence from Sex: Results from a 23-Year Study at a Midwestern U.S. University

Sexual activity is normative in college. Thus, college students who are virgins are a minority; they are also an understudied group. This study extended a prior investigation (Sprecher & Regan, 1996 ) that focused on U.S. college virgins' reported reasons for and reactions to virginity. 

Data were collected from the same university over an additional 18 years and from more than 700 additional virgin students. We found differences between male and female virgins that showed that men are more reluctant virgins. For example, the only reason for being a virgin that male virgins endorsed to a greater degree than did female virgins was "my partner was not willing." Men also had more negative affective reactions to being avirgin than did women. We also found some variation in reasons for and reactions to virginity based on sociodemographic variables such as religiosity and ethnicity. A temporal analysis revealed that reasons for being a virgin that referred to a fear (e.g., fear of AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections) became less important over the 23-year period. 

We discuss our findings in the frameworks of evolutionary and social exchange theories.

Full article at: http://goo.gl/qTbNpd

By: Sprecher S1, Treger S2.

• 1a Department of Sociology and Anthropology , Illinois State University.
• 2b Department of Psychology , DePaul University. 

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