quotations about virginity
Every Harlot was a Virgin once.
WILLIAM BLAKE
For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise
My brothers were never warned about the dangers of exposing too much skin. My brothers were never taught their worth lay in their virginity. Men who have sex aren't unsticky Band-Aids or flavourless pieces of gum -- they're players. Purity culture teaches young women that they need to control the brakes of sexual responsibility. Male agency is ignored, and men and boys are characterised as aggressive and brutish. Both genders are denied their humanity.
JEAN BALCHIN
"Enough of the shame game", Otago Daily Times, April 20, 2017
The life of virginity seems to be an actual representation of the blessedness in the world to come. In itself it shows many signs of the anticipated blessings reserved for us there.
PETE SOCKS
"Virginity is heaven on earth", Patheos, April 25, 2017
In the end this shall be for me sufficient, that a marble stone shall declare that a Queen, having reigned such a time, lived and died a virgin.
ELIZABETH I
Collected Works
Dear woman who just started having sex: Congratulations! You have begun your journey of discovering a new layer of your existence -- an integral part of your identity, and a new way of communicating and connecting with others. Losing the cloak of virginity is only the first step, and perhaps the easiest and the simplest, even though it may not seem like it.... Don't feel guilty for being sexual. Years of systematic oppression of female sexuality has ingrained guilt and shame in us when it comes to our carnal desires, and we still feel it at some level. Your sexuality doesn't make you immoral or dirty or whatever else you may associate with it. It makes you a Goddess.
PRACHI GANGWANI
"A Letter To The Woman Who Just Started Having Sex", iDiva, April 27, 2017
When I was younger, I thought the key ingredient to losing my virginity was true love. It HAD to be with someone who TRULY LOVED ME, would NEVER, EVER LEAVE ME and would, like, I don't know, look into my eyes and know my inner soul, and we'd touch the face of God together or something. Guess who I consciously decided to lose it to because I thought he "loved me"? Ding, ding, ding! My idiot high school boyfriend who ended up cheating on me anyway. Very not romantic. Very stupid. Very wish it went a different way.
JAMIE LEELO
"Why You Should Lose Your Virginity To Someone You Don't Love", Elite Daily, February 16, 2017
The desert of virginity
Aches in the hotness of her mouth.
ARTHUR SYMONS
"Bianca"
The virgin has her image in the rose,
Sheltered in garden on its native stock,
Which there in solitude and safe repose
Blooms, unapproached by shepherd or by flock.
LUDOVICO ARIOSTO
Orlando Furioso
It is an infantile superstition of the human spirit that virginity would be thought a virtue and not the barrier that separates ignorance from knowledge.
VOLTAIRE
Notebooks
Virginity of body only has meaning where there is virginity of heart.
R. CROUZEL
Origen: The Deans of the School of Alexandria
I always thought of losing my virginity as a career move.
MADONNA
attributed, Madonna Unauthorized
The word "virginity" is just so loaded with so much meaning and you're the same person after you've had sex, you haven't lost anything or given anything away and it's a healthy, normal stage, so I want it to be celebrated but I don't want anyone to stress about it. We're a virgin every time we have sex with a new partner because we've never had sex with them and we don't know what they like, they don't know what we like.
CHRIS DONAGHUE
Loveline with Amber Rose, April 27, 2017
Young people are careless of their virginity; one day they may have it and the next not.
SYLVIA TOWNSEND WARNER
Kingdoms of Elfin
Virginity is conceptual, it is a social construction. When we have sex for the first time we do not actually lose anything. It does not change our identity, it is not life-altering and it does not affect our worth. It is simply a new experience.
SKY JORDAN
"It's time to rethink the social construction of 'virginity'", The State Press, February 6, 2017
Lo, when man's force doth ope
The virgin doors, there is no cure nor hope
For what is lost.
AESCHYLUS
The Libation Bearers
I wish I were a virgin again. The only fun I ever had was holding out.
CLARE BOOTHE LUCE
The Women
As long as it's your choice and you're fully informed of--and comprehend--the consequences, virginity should not be something to lose sleep over. There will be no village elders standing outside the room on your wedding night ready to paint the town red as your husband walks out in triumph with a blood-stained sheet that is meant to vouch for your "purity." Men are no longer angling for a virgin bride. To the contrary, a majority of them prefer women who know their way between the sheets. Simply put, they don't care about your sexual past.
NANCY ROXANNE
"Virginity is overrated: Who gives a damn about it?", SDE Entertainment, November 29, 2016
Virginity is what girls and women are pressured to lock away for as long as possible. Virginity is what boys and men must get rid of as soon as possible.
ALISHA ACQUAYE
"In 'Chewing Gum', Making Sexual Choices is Liberating, Even if First Times Aren't All That", Okay Africa, April 12, 2017
Like a virgin, hey
Touched for the very first time
Like a virgin
With your heartbeat
Next to mine
MADONNA
"Like a Virgin"
Men are afraid of virgins, but they have a cure for their own fear and the virgin's virginity.
URSULA K. LE GUIN
"The Space Crone", Co-Evolution Quarterly, summer 1976