Yes, you kinda have to be LIKE a virgin because, really, who knows if there is such a thing as REAL virginity? Hanne Blank, historian and author of VIRGINITY: THE UNTOUCHED HISTORY (2007), certainly makes a girl question the whole story–and virginity IS a story, not a biological fact.
If you haven’t heard of Blank’s thoroughly researched, sharply-written and entertainingly wry history of virginity, treat yourself to a great read–you’ll be glad you did! As you drive to the bookstore, listen to this episode, as we take you through highlights of a history that lays the groundwork for our season on “fallen women.” After all, if you are going to fall, you have to fall from somewhere, and virginity has traditionally been the precipice from which patriarchy most enjoys watching women tumble to their doom.
Join Sonja and Vanessa as they share Blank’s surprising and yet predictable, funny and yet tragic findings, on all things virginal. For starters, what defines virginity? Is there even such a thing as a hymen? Why was virginity thought to give you superpowers? Does Jesus even care about virginity? Why is virginity still seen as a way to cure sexually transmitted diseases? Why–if you could go back in a time machine to ancient Rome–might you consider signing up to be a Vestal Virgin? What’s the link between Martin Luther’s Reformation and the concept of the “old maid” that haunts many a Jane Austen heroine? How are concepts of virginity and colonialism intertwined? And why, dear listener, would you ever think it was a good idea to put a leech…down there?
Along the way, find out why Sonja is a virgin martyr fan girl, and discover the shocking results of Vanessa’s head/neck ratio virginity test.
REFERENCES:
Hanne Blank’s Virgin: The Untouched History is such a great read that we hope you buy it or check it out from your library. Our episode only touches the surface of the detailed and fascinating research she presents on the topic.
If you are interested in Virginia Woolf’s assertion that virginity is a “fetish,” it’s best to read her entire section, "If Shakespeare Had a Sister" from A Room of One’s Own.
We reference several previous episodes: Season 2 Episode 1 explains Gerda Lerner’s theories on the beginnings of patriarchy; Season 4 Episode 5 explores DRACULA and the medical use of wine to help with vampiric blood loss; Season 3 Episode 10 discusses Sarah Waters’s THE PAYING GUESTS and early 20th century abortive concoctions.