From ancient Greece to Britney Spears, this is story of how society came to value virginity – and how the myth hurts women.
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Virginity keep back a sacred berth in many gild across meter and place . But just how did humanity get to value virgins — and is this evaluation even valuable anymore ? If so , at what cost ?
Virginity in Ancient Greece and Rome
Wikimedia CommonsDiana And Her Nymphs Departing For The Huntby Peter Paul Rubens
While virginity today may conjure images of fragility , in many ancient civilizations , virginity signaled a womanhood ’s independency and lastingness . Virgo were “ liberal women , ” not subject to the will of a humans .
Far before the advent of Christianity , mythology turn back the values of the daytime , and virgins play a primal role in many of the stories . Parthenos , for instance — the Greek Son for virgin — referred to the goddesses Athena and Artemis .
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Athena was one of the most widely fear goddesses in ancient Greece . Even the centre of Grecian civilization , Athens , was named in her honour . She represented wisdom , courage , and justice , and apprise kings and warrior in battle . Athena never take aim a devotee or splice .
Wikimedia CommonsDedication Of A New Vestal Virginby Alessandro Marchesini
Artemis , virgin goddess of the hunt , protect young girls and aided adult female in childbirth . Case in percentage point : In one tarradiddle , a man named Actaeon spies on Artemis while she bathes , and the goddess turns him into stag . He ’s then eat up awake by his own hounds .
Wikimedia CommonsDiana And Her Nymphs Departing For The Huntby Peter Paul Rubens
In later Roman high society , Vestal Virgins were some of the empire ’s most significant citizen . These women were priestess who kept the sacred fire in temple of Vesta — goddess of the hearth — continually burn , a symbolic gesture deal fundamental for the security of the papistical conglomerate .
Vestal Virgins were appropriate far morerightsthan regular female citizen . They could vote , own state , and if a malefactor saw a virgin priestess on the street , he was mechanically pardoned .
The Bible
Wikimedia CommonsLeonardo da Vinci’sAnnunciation
The Bible offers the most significant , and consequential , virginity myth in Western civilization : The Virgin Mary ’s divinely consecrate gestation . While Mary ’s virginity is often lead for granted today , a translation erroneousness — not truth — may be behind her labeling as a “ virgin . ”
For those who need a refresher course , the story go like this : Angel Gabriel impose Mary at her home in Galilee and informs her that she will become pregnant with the messiah — God ’s son , otherwise known as Jesus Christ . finally she give birth in a trough , and you know the rest .
Wikimedia CommonsDedication Of A New Vestal Virginby Alessandro Marchesini
When placing this story into the New Testament , Jesus ’ adherent Matthew translated the event from the Old Testament ’s Book of Isaiah . The Hebrew word for virgin isalmah . The Holy Writ , which come out in the Old Testament , literally translates to “ young woman ” and has no connective to her intimate story .
Isaiah uses the wordalmah — virgin — to describe the char who would be become Jesus ’ mom , and is only reflective of her age and gender . This is pretty boastful , as it means that the original Good Book may not have been interest with whether Mary was sexually alive before or after she became pregnant with Jesus .
Modern copies of the Bible are now being revised to reflect the literal translation ofalmah , in an effort to be as “ close to the original Hebrew as potential , ” Mary Elizabeth Speers , a interpreter for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops toldTimemagazine .
Wikimedia CommonsLeonardo da Vinci’sAnnunciation
She ’s straightaway to add together that Catholic bishop , however , still consider that Jesus was born to a virgin , and that she retained eonian virginity — meaning that even after she hook up with Joseph , she never had sexual urge with him . “ That doctrine stands , and will probably suffer until the end of time , ” Speers said .
Wikimedia CommonsThe Virgin Mary from the Ghent Altarpieceby Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck .
As the religion ’s influence turn , images from Mary ’s life — however misunderstood — began to embed themselves in popular culture . The Annunciation Day , as Mary ’s tribulation by Gabriel come to be roll in the hay , was a pop subject in Medieval and Renaissance Italy prowess .
Wikimedia CommonsThe Virgin Mary from the Ghent Altarpieceby Hubert van Eyck and Jan van Eyck.
Two other Renaissance painter , GiottoandFra Angelico , recreated the aspect in their paintings as did their much more notable successors Botticelli and Da Vinci .
Mary appear in graphics both alone and with the Christ Child , as a nurturing and subsequently a grieving female parent , at her marriage and her birth . Indeed , the Virgin ’s whole lifespan — an object of Renaissance reverence and enthrallment — remains on perpetual display in cathedral and painting around the mankind .
That ’s not to say that the Virgin Mary ’s influence confine itself to esthetics . Virgin Mary iconography — however nominal her virginity may have been — had a durable consequence in shape women ’s doings and manifestation of gender . Just as Mary was devoted wholly to God , not her worldly desires , so too did womanhood in Western societies come to be expected to devote themselves to their hubby .
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Various personification of Mary ’s story and attribute — along with practice of law which placed political decision making power in the hands of men and anneal cleaning woman ’s obsequiousness — finally translated to a modified life history for many adult female : They were expect to produce tyke , uphold their homes , and do the will of their husbands without interrogation .
However , there were other more practical — not puritanical — concern that lead early society to localise a high-pitched value on pure cleaning lady . At this time , hereditary pattern laws dictate that husbands had to be sure that the fair sex they married carried their biological sons , as attribute and wealth transfer was contingent on on the succession of direct blood stemma . to see to it a successful transfer , women were thus encouraged to stay chaste until they were married , and to remain completely faithful and implemental to their husband .
An Antiquated — And Harmful — Social Construct?
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While centuries have passed — and with it shift in police and norm which articulate a woman ’s position in society — religious groups still ghost over a woman ’s virginity and its tribute .
Some Christians , for instance , participate inpurity balls , a formal consequence in which teenage girl fit out in snowy dresses make a pledge of sexual abstinence to their Father-God .
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And yet , those pledge and rituals like them do n’t seem to have made much encroachment on teenage maternity rates . A 2016studyin theJournal of Marriage and Familyfound that 30 percent of girls who made an abstinence assurance and afterward broke it became meaning while single .
The study ’s author , Anthony Paik , argue that thesetypes of ritualshelp sustain an environment where young fair sex are cut off from access to secure methods of parentage ascendency , and perpetuate the thought that women are only valuable as married woman and vessels for future offspring .
“ Abstinence - only sex Education Department policy … may be contributing to the decreased sexual and generative health of missy and untried women , ” Paik said .
In other share of the world , perceived sexual purity can be a matter of life and death for women . In some Islamic nations , if a woman has sex activity or gets fraught before marriage , even in slip of ravishment , she could be the victim of anhonor killing — the culturally okay slaying of a charwoman , normally by her parents , if she brings dishonor to the kinsperson .
The United Nationsreportsthat honor kill lay claim the lives of 5,000 woman per year .
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In the West , though the stakes are lower , virginity myths penetrate pop culture . From the innocent schooltime girlfriend in Britney Spears’s“Baby One More Time ” , to the sexually awakened Madonna in“Like A Virgin ” , young , uninstructed women who are at once sexy but virginal have replace the traditional representations of Mary .
In attempting to achieve this unimaginable proportion of intimate maturity and naturalness , women can often mislay more than they gain . A 2010 book , talk About Sexual Assault : Society ’s Response to Survivors , shows that up to two third base of woman “ who tell others about their assault must die hard a ‘ 2nd assault ’ in the pattern of negative reactions , such as victim blaming and unbelief . ”
That ’s not to say that the outlook isallbleak for women search sexual representation . Recently , men and women around the country have pushed to take their sexuality back — and to some success .
In so - calledSlutWalks , demonstrator celebrate sex - positivity , and call for an final stage to an fornicatress - shaming . Part of their aim is to push back against the whimsey that chaste women are inherently serious than women who prefer to have sex . They hope to suppress the belief that modesty , purity , subservientness , and silence make women more valuable .
Many SlutWalks also advocate for victims of sexual violation and protestation rape culture , especially on college campus . SlutWalks have taken place in South Africa , New York , Toronto , and New Delhi , among many otherplaces .
In 2016 , when women’s liberation movement is a cant , a charwoman might finally be president of the United States , and the hoi polloi wielding the power on TV ’s most popularshoware all women , it ’s exculpated that our understanding and handling of women has changed since the twenty-four hours of the Virgin Mary .
That evolution in opinion should apply to a char ’s sexuality , too . After all , sex does n’t need to rule charwoman ’s life . They ’ve get much more important things to call back about .
Next , read more about what the West capture correct ( and improper ) aboutwomen in Islam . Then , read a brief story ofhow Jesus became white-hot .
