Virgin The Untouched History

by Blank, Hanne

• ISBN13: 9781596910119
• ISBN10: 1596910119
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-04
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA

Summary

Virgin: The Untouched History is a fascinating and wholly original look at the history of virginity throughout Western culture. From the famous to the infamous, Blank introduces us to the significant players throughout time: the young martyred nuns of Coldingham Abbey, Elizabeth "The Virgin Queen," and more contemporary figures such as Donna Martin from Beverly Hills, 90210, with her prime-time virginity loss. Virgin provides an enlightening and entertaining look at one of our most unexamined taboos by delving into how and why we've been so obsessed with virginity. With keen insight, Blank attempts to answer some of the fundamental but complicated questions associated with the subject, including what exactly constitutes virginity's loss. She reveals the myriad ways virginity has been tested and contested, guarded and faked, and even restored. And in the process, she shows us just why humans have come to care so much about this fundamentally intangible state in the first place. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Hanne Blank is a writer, historian, and public speaker whose work has been featured everywhere from OUT to Penthouse. An independent scholar, she has served in faculty positions at several colleges and universities, most recently as the 2004–2005 scholar of the Institute for Teaching and Research on Women at Towson University, Maryland.

Table of Contents

Extra Virgin: A Note to Readers	p. ix
Virginology	p. 1
Like a Virgin?	p. 3
The Importance of Being Virgin	p. 21
Hymenology	p. 32
A Desperate and Conflicted Search	p. 42
The Virgin and the Doctor	p. 58
The Blank Page	p. 74
Opening Night	p. 96
Virgin Culture	p. 117
In a Certain Way Unbodily	p. 119
Heaven and Earth	p. 146
To Go Where No Man Has Gone Before	p. 177
The Erotic Virgin	p. 192
The Day Virginity Died?	p. 217
Epilogue: The Once and Future Virgin	p. 250
Selected Bibliography	p. 259
Acknowledgments	p. 275
Index	p. 277
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