How virginity is portrayed in modern days, and where these beliefs originated.
Modern Portrayal of Virginity
Today, virginity is often understood as the first sexual experience between two consenting individuals. Traditionally, it has been defined as penile-vaginal intercourse, reflecting a heteronormative perspective that has historically dominated discussions. It is a common theme used in the film industry, the trope of a teen/young adult (usually girl) on a journey to lose their virginity, as a personal accomplishment to fit in at her school, among peers, or so a crush takes notice. In the article “I will not be a 17 year old virgin’: female virginity and sexual scripting in graphic narratives for teenagers”, Stamper & Blackburn say “sexual scripts are gendered, prescribing different roles for women and men: agentic, dominantly men are expected to feel desire and initiate sexual activity with submissive (or resistant) women who may or may not feel desire.”. Along with the poor portrayals of virginity tropes in the film industry, even worse is the pornography industry. It is known that pornography inaccurately displays sexual intercourse in several ways, gives improper expectations, and shows specifically the prioritization of male climax over female climax. Not only does it display inaccuracy, give improper expectations and priorize men over women, it completely erases consent. When this is the first source where young people are learning sex from, it becomes extremely dangerous to both parties.
The pressures put on women and girls to not only to fit in with their peers, but also to stay pure so she does not portray herself as overly sexually promiscuous is a problem that most, if not all, women will endure. In today’s Western culture, women are taking more control over their sexuality, not only through initiating more sexual experiences, being sexually assertive, and refusing to negotiate their experiences for others’ pleasures (Stamper & Blackburn, p.92, 2018). Even with the shift of agency, unfortunately the general understanding of male pleasure being more important than womens pleasure is still prevalent (Stamper & Blackburn, p.452, 2018).
Men
Alike women, male virginity is also a common trope in film in current Western time. However, unlike girls/women 'needing' to lose their virginity, the boys/men desire to get rid of his virgin title (Caron & Hinman, 2013). Alike both of the genders, they are both commonly objected to peer pressure. Movies like American Pie, Super Bad, and the 40 Year Old Virgin, are prime examples of films that further the male virginity stigma (Caron & Hinman, 2013). Often, when men are losing their virginities in film, a common trope is losing it to a an older, seductive woman (Caron & Hinman, 2013). Even when the relationship between the virgin boy and sexually experienced woman portrayed has an uncomfortable and/or illegal age gap, it is still often comical (Caron & Hinman, 2013). Not only is male virginities disregarded heavily, but their sexual victimization as well.
In "I took his V-card": An exploratory analysis of college student stories involving male virginity loss", there are many stories from the young men, a lot of them positive but a lot of them negative as well. Their anxieties often revolve around their performance as a newbie, but "gain the status and feelings of manhood" (Caron & Hinman, 2013). There is a theme of men not telling their sexual partners about thier designated title, in fear that they would be made fun of (Caron & Hinman, 2013).
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