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COMMUNITY LEADER
Like I said originally, the usual definition of virginity is the penis has not gone into the vagina.
COMMUNITY LEADER
Can you be more specific about what you want to know? In a lot of ways, "virgin" is a cultural definition. For example, in some patriarchial societies, men really, really care if the woman has not slept with another man before them, and they place a very high premium on this. Yet they are not disturbed if the woman has used tampons, for example. That is having something put into her vagina, but as long as it is not a man's penis, that is OK.
If you are asking if the hymen can be broken other ways besides penetrative sex by a man's penis, the answer is sure. It's a relatively thin membrane, when I was a kid we used to be told that a woman could rupture her hymen by horseback riding. Probably some women don't have much of a hymen in the first place and others break or stretch it with other actions, maybe tampons or masturbation or active sports. Even in a patriarchial society where the new husband wants to be the woman's "first," this kind of breaking of the hymen is not considered to make the woman not be a virgin.
So, what are you asking exactly? Are you afraid you have somehow lost your virginity and that there is some kind of negative consequence you are worried about?
If you are asking if the hymen can be broken other ways besides penetrative sex by a man's penis, the answer is sure. It's a relatively thin membrane, when I was a kid we used to be told that a woman could rupture her hymen by horseback riding. Probably some women don't have much of a hymen in the first place and others break or stretch it with other actions, maybe tampons or masturbation or active sports. Even in a patriarchial society where the new husband wants to be the woman's "first," this kind of breaking of the hymen is not considered to make the woman not be a virgin.
So, what are you asking exactly? Are you afraid you have somehow lost your virginity and that there is some kind of negative consequence you are worried about?
COMMUNITY LEADER
Generally the definition is never having had penetrative sex with a man, in other words, the penis has not gone into the vagina.
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