“What if we said that virginity has nothing to do with the human body?
That it is a social construct, an outdated concept?
“, ask the sexologists Laurence Desjardins, Isabelle Arcoite and Annabelle Gauthier in
On SEXplique ça
, a book just published by Éditions de l’Homme (19.90 euros).
In our Minute Papillon
podcast !
, we find our appointment
All Sexplain
, and we will discuss virginity with Laurence Desjardins, also intervening in sexology in schools.
Why is virginity not a matter of biology?
According to the CNRS CNRTL dictionary, virginity is the state of a person who has never had sexual relations.
Figuratively, character of what is pure, of what has never been touched, mixed, soiled.
Subject of the intimate, virginity has been, and still is, in several cultures and countries, a measure of the honorable character of the female body to be married.
We are talking here about monitoring, controlling this body, and that has little to do with human biology.
In this interview, Laurence Desjardins returns to the concept of virginity, which refers to the fact of never having had penetrative vaginal intercourse in a heterosexual relationship.
Virginity has long been "measured" by the presence of the hymen, a fragile membrane at the entrance to the vagina, which can break at any time in life.
It can be perforated, torn, evacuated during physical activity, a fall, the insertion of fingers or an object in the vaginal cavity.
Why wonder about the representation of the “first time”?
Recall that in 2018, the World Health Organization called for an end to the practice of virginity tests.
These examinations are not based on any scientific basis and threaten women's health, warns the United Nations institution.
In this episode, to listen to above, Laurence Desjardins invites us to question what the “first time” represents and the “overwhelming” expectations of society on the sexual life of women.
“Virginity would be to be honourable.
Honorable, according to whom?
[…] Is a woman who has sexual pleasure a taboo, or something to neglect?
Virginity excludes
queer
sexualities , it excludes pleasure, the expression of sexuality.
» More in this interview.
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