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The issue of virginity
The issues of virginity
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Virginity is a social construct because it is not founded in objective reality, but rather in imagined reality or the collective imaginations of humans. Hanne Blank, author of “Virgin: An Untouched History” could not find a medical definition of virginity. Ann Knöfel Magnusson noted in Scarlteen that physically there is no difference between virgins and non-virgins. Virginity was an idea invented human imaginations, and is ultimately defined by our imaginations. The definition of virginity is far from set in stone, ultimately virginity is contextual and relative to culture, time period, and who you are asking. It's isn't a “thing” either; even how we define virginity is by the lack of other variables. According to Blank, “we define virginity by deciding what terminates it, what virginity is not.”
I could hardly watch the movie trailers for the “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”, “The American Virgin” and “The Virginity Hit”; they were repulsive. None of them seemed to be about virginity, just about sex. Blank said that there can be many “stealth” virgins today. Virgins who don't even...
The values and rules of traditional community add great pressure on an individual 's shoulder while choosing their identity. While women 's have relatively more freedom then before but however values of traditional communities creates an invisible fence between their choices. It put the young women in a disconcerting situation about their sexual freedom. Bell demonstrates the how the contradiction messages are delivered to the young woman 's, she writes that “Their peers, television shows such as Sex and the City, and movies seem to encourage sexual experimentation... But at the same time, books, such as Unhooked and A Return to Modesty advise them to return to courtship practices from the early 1900s”(27).
Pepper Schwartz opens Why is Everyone Afraid of Sex? with "In spite of the visibility of sex in the media and popular culture, despite a widespread acceptance of a variety of sexual practices, Americans still hold a deep-rooted fear of sex." (252) Schwartz then goes on to explain the surprising, but obvious truth. American society portrays a sexual attitude, but is actually hiding a fear of the activity. Schwartz does a great job of showing both sides of this argument. She mentions how sex seems to no longer be a completely taboo thing within the media and society today. Within television, magazines, articles, movies, etc, sexual themes are all over the place. Another factor is that premarital sex is becoming more and more acceptable these
For centuries, society has placed a remarkably large emphasis on protecting the young from the many perceived errors of growing up. Effective sex education is resisted in many locations across the country in favor of somewhat comical biblical suggestions for abstinence until marriage even while the majority of those targeted teens are viewing the world as a more and more sexual place. So many views are weaving in and out of teenagers' newly formed adolescent minds that any effective argument for responsible attitudes or analysis of sexual behavior in teens should be expressed with a certain minimal degree of clarity. Unfortunately, this essential lucidity of advice is missing in the short story “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been,” in which the misguided Joyce Carol Oates creates the character of Arthur Friend as a cliché personification of the inner demon of uncontrollably budding sexuality. Instead, the murky characterization of the antagonist presents nothing more than a confused and ambiguous view of the meaning of the story.
In “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick (391), the element of poetry that stands out most for me in the poem is personification. By endowing nonhuman things with characteristics of human’s power, thrive and aliveness, the author wants to encourage people to pursue their goals and take risks to reach what they want. For example, in line 3, by comparing a flower to a human being (flowers cannot smile), Herrick encourages people to enjoy their youth and do not just wait and watch life pass by and be wasted. In lines 3 to 5 in the second verse, the author personifies the sun by using the pronouns he and his, once again meaning that the sooner we fight for our goal, the sooner we will have our reward.
Author Amy Schalet ultimately brings up a delicate and sensitive topic about teens having sex, comparing the different mindsets of families in the Netherlands and in America. By Schalet carrying the interviews, she found out that teens in America are a lot more secretive with their personal lives, and would not discuss it with their parents, unlike teens from the Netherlands that eventually told their parents. While some people might say that it’s a matter of common sense, some other people might argue it has to do with culture. Catholics, for example, believe in celibacy until you have decided on the person you will marry. You are taught from young age to protect your body and mind from carnal desires and focus on other things that will benefit you on the long run. Obviously, times have changed, and not many people practice this anymore. We can see an example on shows on television about teen pregnancy, while these shows aren’t necessarily telling to go ahead and have children at young age, it might have negative impact on younger girls, almost like a unintentional role model. On the other hand, writer Jamaica Kincaid, demonstrates the In The Girl we see the other side of the coin, a mother that is so demanding and is always right, no matter the outcome, she is right, and things have to be done a certain way. I think a figure like this would not benefit
Choices and types of lifestyle a person chooses help to create a person 's identity. However when the choices and the lifestyle chosen are affected by the various forces, it can create fake identity of that person. In “Selections from “Hard to Get: Twenty-Something Women and the Paradox of Sexual Freedom,” the author Leslie Bell insist that pressure from society and family create a complex situation for young women where they are forced to divide their choices and choose a lifestyle. The author writes about the the uncertainty and lost identities of young women 's. Identity is a complex issue which can be divided into two parts; one being given identity and real identity. Given identity is best described by race,gender,family and all the other
...odity, desperately sought after by men. Their commodity places them in a double bind: "To be sexually active is to be suspect, to be a virgin is to be desirable and therefore potentially sexually active and potentially suspect. Either way women lose. Either way they are sexualised" (Macfarlane 78).
Orientation, introduction, moving in classes, fraternity exams midterm finals, all flying by with the roar of drag car screaming past you on the side. That is how this past semester has felt like. So far everything has been a blur, "tunnel visioned" towards the end that is now wider as I start to comprehend all of the emotions and information from this past semester. Sitting here in front of my computer finishing on of the last essays I will write this semester about the thing that I have done this semester. Tired, hungry and wanting to go home have been the reoccurring themes so far in my college career.
HBO's Sex and the City has become a cultural icon in its 6 seasons of running. Based on Candace Bushnell's racy book Sex and the City, the show exhibits an unprecedented example of the sexual prowess of women over the age of 35. The result is an immense viewing audience and an evolving view on the "old maid" stigma that a woman's chances of finding love are significantly reduced after thirty-five. In this paper, we will closely analyze the characters and themes of Sex and the City to explain the significance of what the show represents in American culture.
Have you ever felt trapped in your worse nightmare? Do you think you will ever have what it takes to overcome it? I can assure you it is hard but after what I experienced I believe anyone is capable of doing so. When I was younger I didn’t know what the word “psychedelic” meant, or ever thought I would come in contact with one. When I was 16 that naïve way of thinking changed. One of my closest friends Sarah, which I hadn’t seen in months told me she had one of the best experiences of her life trying a psychedelic that goes by the name of LSD. Little did I know I was being introduced to a whole new world. Being young and impulsive, I was intrigued by her story and wanted to experience what she did. I unfortunately made the hasty
The image of female sexuality in our society has been corrupted in Levy’s opinion, tainted by the countless industries profiting off of the sexualization of women, who are the main driving force behind our current day raunch culture. Take Girls Gone Wild (GGW from henceforth), GGW is a perfect example of how the younger generation of women is effected by our current day raunch culture. GGW often targets women whom they see as the average looking girl, “the girl next door” so to speak. They are often college students ...
Sexuality has become one of the key determining factors in one’s gender. While many want to initially say that gender is solely based on sexual orientation fail to take in to account many cultural practices, which not only influence gender, but create certain gender roles. The initial creation of Mexican gender roles, as Gloria Gonzalez-Lopez suggests, is the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church “over the course of almost five hundred years,” created beliefs that virgins are desirable and that a non-virgin is of a lower moral class (38). From this Mexican women began maintaining their virginity, not because of the moral implications, but because of social mobility. Virginity has been created to be something beautif...
Teenagers need to be taught to practice abstinence. By learning this important lesson, youths will be less likely to contract sexually transmitted diseases, and they will be safe from unwanted pregnancies that could lead to abortions.
High school years are supposed to be a time for fun and exciting events in every adolescent's life. There are parties, ball games, and local after school hangout joints where we can meet. All combined to making high school the most memorable years of any teenage girl?s life. However, my experience in high school took an uneventful turn in tenth grade. My carefree ways had to end and a new wave of responsibility was presented to me. I found out that I was two months pregnant. My thoughts tugged at my conscience, how was I to tell the father of my unborn child? Would my mother support my decision? I had to forget about my partying ways and hanging with my friends. My freedom days of coming and going were about to be over and I quickly became the girl about whom everyone was talking.
The perspectives that I have been introduced to contradict each other, and for a long time, I have felt too conflicted about virginity to form my own opinion. Although I may be considered too young to fully address the idea of virginity, I believe that although virginity is a marker of adulthood, the depth of its importance is not as great as