A Short History of Virginity (Patreon)

This Lex Rated minisode serves as a companion piece to Lex Rated Podcast #4, which I'm posting on November 1st. This episode deals with heteronormative concepts of female virginity, but I'll address male virginity in the podcast episode! 

Sources + Further Reading

Virgin: The Untouched History (Hanne Blank)

The Dilemma of Virginity Restoration (Bruce Crumley)

Virginity Loss in Reel/Real Life: Using Popular Movies To Navigate Sexual Initiation (Laura M. Carpenter)

Virginity Discourse and The AIDS Era: A Case Analysis of Sexual Initiation Aftershock (Brownen Lichtenstein)

PEARLS, UNICORNS, AND LILIES: SYMBOLS OF FEMININE PURITY IN THE RENAISSANCE

Cherry Picking: A History of Testing Virginity (Dr. Kate Lister AKA @WhoresofYore)

The History of Virgins In Art (Lakeisha Goedlock)

Doctors ordered to perform ‘virginity tests’ on underage girls in Russia (Lucy Pasha-Robinson)

Elizabeth I’s love life: was she really a ‘Virgin Queen’?

On the virgin cleansing myth: gendered bodies, AIDS and ethnomedicine.

Peru's Gold Miners Seek 'Good Luck' from Trafficked Virgin Girls

Virgin Auctions: Big Business for Some Adults, Brutal Slavery for Many Children (Barbie Latza Nadeau) 

Virginity for sale: inside Cambodia's shocking trade (Abigail Haworth)