What does the hymen have to do with virginity?

What does the hymen have to do with virginity?

Most people cross over this topic again and again, without having any real knowledge of what the hymen is. It is believed to be that the hymen is a small membrane that covers the opening of the female gentalia. Once a virgin has sex for the first time, this membrane is expected to break, and blood is expected to be lost.

People say that if you don't have a hymen, you don't have virginity either, but I'd like to debunk this myth. In short, virginity can be defined in a number of ways, but it has absolutely nothing to do with a hymen.

First, a hymen is not a membrane that covers the vagina. If this were to be true, it wouldn't be possible for girls to menstruate. The hymen is the fringe found around the outside of the vagina. In fact, some girls aren't even born with it, and it can be torn from something as easy as walking or riding a bicycle.

When most girls have sex for the first time, any bleeding would be due to bleeding of the tissue within the vagina, and the hymen (fringe located outside the opening of the vagina) only tears in some cases. Less than half the women who have sex for the first time actually experience bleeding.

So, in short, a hymen has nothing to do with virginity. Most people of the world have no idea what a hymen actually is, and its time females became aware of their body parts. If you didn't experience bleeding the first time, then don't worry. This varies from female to female.

2 2

Most Helpful Girl

  • Thanks for this great, informative myTake! I too, was one of those young girls who never bled or had any bad pains during sex for the first time. Part of that is I was going for internal exams before I lost my virginity.

    The term "popping one's cherry" has made adolescent boys think when they take a virgin, something is literally going to "pop" and cherry represents the bleeding. It's no wonder when people come up with these idioms that kids will grow up in to adults still thinking that if something didn't break the virginity must have been taken already. Just like @ConfusedGrocer said, it's reasons like this, young girls are shamed because of a myth. And not just in developing countries. In the western world too. A boy will have sex with a virgin, assume his girlfriend is lying because nothing "popped", and make her feel terrible all because he doesn't know what he's talking about.

    • 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

    • "and make her feel terrible" Ahhhh @Ozanne. You are such a kind soul. Always walking on the political correctness line :-). Let me say it for you. Elsewhere in the world, they don't just make her feel terrible...
      https://bit.ly/1Jo9gS7

    • Your welcome! And thank you for the support :)

Most Helpful Guy

  • I agree completely. They hymen has absolutely nothing to do with virginity. That's just an antiquated, naive way of thinking.

    • "Virginity" is just an antiquated way of thinking anyway. Have you ever wondered why there is no word to call someone who has never eaten ice cream or smelled a flower? Only for someone who never had sex. And we all know we are thinking of women when we say virgin, even if boys can be too. It's a word, a concept, that has been invented to pressure women. To control their sexuality. That it is still in use in 2015 baffles me. It should have disappeared from the rotation just like the word gramophone...

Scroll Down to Read Other Opinions

What's Your Opinion? Sign Up Now!

What Girls & Guys Said

10 12
  • To some hymen is a symbol of virginity.
    But it does not define virginity itself.
    I liked this take.
    It can be of great use to people who did not already know these things.

  • Thank you! Finally someone is debunking this silly myth! No matter how much (or how little) experience you have with sex, knowing the biology behind it is so important for health and overall satisfaction.

  • Completely right and agree. I find it completely sad that there are ignorant people who will kill women for "not having a hymen" on their wedding night when the woman wasn't born with one. Or even if she doesn't bleed after. So sad.

  • Exactly. It also doesn't "break" or disappear, it's not something you lose. It just becomes more elastic, like a rubber band. Like you said, it can be torn a little but that's it. It usually heals itself and simply becomes more stretchy so that you don't bleed in the future (unless he enters you dry... ouch).

    I actually bled the first few times I had sex. So not only the first time. This was because I tensed up, and because my partner and I didn't use any lube. It only really hurt the first time, so I was kind of shocked the second time when I was still bleeding, but I hadn't felt any pain. So, bleeding is definitely not a sign of virginity. And not bleeding is not a sign of not being a virgin anymore. It really just depends on the girl.

  • THANK YOU!! I have been trying to get this point across to people for the longest time!

    • Your welcome :)