Courtesy of Vanessa Ervin, Virginity Reflection, 2016
The word virginity is not in my vocabulary. The word hurts to think about and I instantly get uncomfortable when it arises. Such as the time it arose in Adichie’s ted talk. In her talk she discusses how she wants to create a definition for the word feminism. She does this because there doesn’t seem to be an actual clear definition for it. This got me thinking, and as pointed out by Jessica Valenti, that there is no real definition for the word virginity either. I started to think about where the term has come from, what the ideology of it today is, and lastly how I have been treated in my life based upon my state of virginity. This gave me a very strong conclusion as to what I think the definition of virginity is. With the history, double standards, and treatment of being a virgin/non-virgin in mind, I would like to talk about why I think the definition for virginity should be: A term created by society to oppress and shame women about their sexuality.
