"How many Islamic extremists men would blow themselves up if they were told feminists, not virgins, awaited them in heaven?" Adele Lang & Susi Rajah

Just last week I finished a fantastic book. Titled Virgins: A Cultural History by Anke Bernau, this book takes a brief look at the history of the concept of virginity from the Middle Ages to modern times. I chose this book because it shared a similar topic with the last book I read.

But before I delve into the fifth chapter I want to share some general information about the book. First off I did indeed find this book under women's studies in my local bookstore. However, this book technically deserves to be shelved under history (says it on the back cover). The book deals with history and not opinions and feminist theory. Also, I would like to point out this book was written by a medieval literature professor. A lot of her studies and degrees deal with virginity and women in the Middle Ages, but she is not a proclaimed feminist. So this book has more of history viewpoint than a feminist viewpoint. Then why is it under women's studies? Well this book is a study about women. Just because it's under the category of women's studies doesn't mean it has to be about feminism (stupid chauvinists).

The author starts off by examining what she deems 'sexual politics.' "Sex and politics have a long and intimately entwined history; they share in turn a close proximity with scandal" (p.168). Bernau argues that this is so because the nexus of sex and politics continuously crosses the line between 'public' and 'private.' So what does that have to do with virginity? What do political sex scandals have to do with regular citizens? Plenty.

"The idea of modern individual identity - and what it means to be an individual - has become absolutely inextricable from sexual identity" (p.169). Carol Liebau covered this issue in her book. The 'do-me feminism' of the early 90's brought about a rise in sexual aggression and soon 'having sex like a man' became popular. Its popularity put pressure on young girls to practice 'do-me feminism' because of the fear of either not getting a guy ('boyfriend') or being left out. Still, what does this have to do with politics? Well, "individual choice is at the core of capitalist ideology [and] community or national welfare must also be considered in the governance of a body politic" (p.169). And politics has a definitive interest in the community when it comes to sex. Hand in hand with sex comes STD's (the AIDs crisis anyone?), fluxuating birth rates (being a competitive and powerful country the US needs 'healthy' looking birth records), issues with welfare (unwed, young, single mothers), and the reproduction of poverty. So politics and sex are indeed linked. But what does this have to do with virginity; it's the subject of the book after all?

"So called virginity movements are becoming increasingly politically powerful and successful in such countries as the United States, where the Bush administration has ploughed millions of dollars into abstinence-only sex education in schools" (p.171). It is because of this sexual and political movement that virginity is actually becoming an issue. At the core of this movement is the belief in abstinence only sex education. Bernau argues that there are eight components to that version of sex education which are also the eight components of the movement:

(1) Sexually transmitted diseases can be caught; (2) A
baby may result; (3) Most people prefer new things to second-hand things; (4)
Casual sex takes the trust out of our future marriage; (5) Casual sex is a lie;
(6) Casual sex can cause depressions; (7) concentrating on sex can spoil or even
prevent a friendship; (8) God has a better plan. (p.173)

Are you rolling your eyes?