Is VIRGINITY important?

Watching the movie Elizabeth: The Golden Age, I was surprised for the importance that virginity used to have. In sixteenth century, according to tradition and religion, women were considered inferior than men. Women had no voice. In those days, having sex out of marriage or before it, was considered sin. Virginity was a female virtue. So Elizabeth surprised everyone showing her female power and using her “virginal image” to get political advantages. She had to adopt this virginal image to save appearances. She was constantly under pressure. In fact, Elizabeth was considered the Virgin Queen because she refused to get married. She didn’t want to be controlled by a man. She was only “married to England”. But is question of debate if she truly was  a virgin because she was too close to a lot of men including the one shown in the movie, Sir Walter Raleigh.

Nowadays, to be virgin at marriage is still important to some religions because it’s considered an element of moral and spiritual purity. In Christianity and Judaism to have sex before marriage doesn’t have serious consequences for women. But in some Islamic countries it does. Gypsies make their brides go through a vaginal examination. In some places of India, virginity means honour, not only for the bride but also to her family. In some African tribes virginity is essential to marriage.

It is shocking to me, to read an interview where an Arabic young woman tells that she  thought about killing herself because she had sexual relations before being married. For women like her, there is social pressure on their wedding night because they have to prove their virginity by blood stained sheets. It is also shocking to read that going into surgery to rebuild her hymen is her only way out.

STOP THINKING THAT WOMEN ARE JUST USEFUL TO PROCREATE, TO DO THE HOUSEWORK AND TO BE SILENCED. We have a brain, a heart and a voice just like men. Religion should complement our lifes, not control them!.