Youth by French painter Virgin mary mocktail-Adolphe Bouguereau. White has traditionally been associated with ritual purity, innocence and virginity in Western cultures. Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. There are cultural and religious traditions that place special value and significance on this state, predominantly towards unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor, and worth.

Like chastity, the concept of virginity has traditionally involved sexual abstinence. As in Latin, the English word is also often used with wider reference, by relaxing the age, gender or sexual criteria. Conceiud o þe hali gast, born o þe virgine marie. Most of the OED1 definitions, however, are similar. The German word for “virgin” is Jungfrau. Jungfrau literally means “young woman”, but is not used in this sense anymore. Instead “junge Frau” can be used.

Jungfrau is the word reserved specifically for sexual inexperience. As Frau means “woman”, it suggests a female referent. French, male virgins are called “puceau”. The concept of virginity has significance only in a particular social, cultural or moral context. According to Hanne Blank, “virginity reflects no known biological imperative and grants no demonstrable evolutionary advantage. Medieval bestiaries stated that the only way to capture or tame a unicorn was by way of using a virgin as a lure, due to her implied purity.

The topic is popular in Renaissance paintings. Although virginity has historically been correlated with purity and worth, many feminist scholars believe that virginity itself is a myth. They argue that no standardized medical definition of virginity exists, that there is no scientifically verifiable proof of virginity loss, and that sexual intercourse results in no change in personality. The urge of wanting one’s spouse or partner to have never engaged in sexual activities is called a virgin complex. A person may also have a virgin complex directed towards oneself.

There are varying understandings as to which types of sexual activities result in loss of virginity. Whether a person can lose their virginity through rape is also subject to debate, with the belief that virginity can only be lost through consensual sex being prevalent in some studies. In a study by researcher and author Laura M. Carpenter states that despite perceptions of what determines virginity loss being as varied among gay men and lesbians as they are among heterosexuals, and in some cases more varied among the former, that the matter has been described to her as people viewing sexual acts relating to virginity loss as “acts that correspond to your sexual orientation,” which suggests the following: “So if you’re a gay male, you’re supposed to have anal sex because that’s what gay men do. The concept of “technical virginity” or sexual abstinence through oral sex is popular among teenagers. Early loss of virginity has been shown to be linked to factors such as level of education, independence, biological factors like age and gender, and social factors such as parental supervision or religious affiliation, with the most common being sociodemographic variables.

The first act of sexual intercourse by a female is commonly considered within many cultures to be an important personal milestone. Its significance is reflected in expressions such as “saving oneself”, “losing one’s virginity,” “taking someone’s virginity” and sometimes as “deflowering. The occasion is at times seen as the end of innocence, integrity, or purity, and the sexualization of the individual. Traditionally, there was a cultural expectation that a female would not engage in premarital sex and would come to her wedding a virgin and that she would “give up” her virginity to her new husband in the act of consummation of the marriage. Feminine sexual practices have revolved around the idea of females waiting to have sex until they are married.

Virginity is regarded as a valuable commodity in some cultures. In the past, within most societies a woman’s options for marriage were largely dependent upon her status as a virgin. Those women who were not virgins experienced a dramatic decrease in opportunities for a socially advantageous marriage, and in some instances the premarital loss of virginity eliminated their chances of marriage entirely. The Bible required a man who seduced or raped a virgin to pay her bride price to her father and marry the girl. In some countries, until the late 20th century, a woman could sue a man who had taken her virginity but did not marry her. Some cultures require proof of a bride’s virginity before her marriage.