Is Virginity A Path Towards Salvation?

From birth until marriage women were taught to retain their virginity because a woman's physical form was all she truly owned. After a women had given this worldly possession away they had no leverage and was expected to care of children and maintain the household. Loss of virginity before marriage or a lack of affection for her children were grave accusations on a woman's moral character. A woman that enjoyed sex before marriage was seen as disgraced in the eyes of God and the community. Sensationalized accounts of disgraced women appeared in magazines and stories to remind future mothers of the importance of keeping their gift. Women had to personify purity and patience, while functioning as the head of the house, all while being completely overruled by the wishes of their

All the feelings resulting from the urge to indulge in sexual impulses is virtually in everyone, as advertisements from burgers to any automobile can inform you. Along with that, the desire to glorify a divine being resonates within many as well. In early Abrahamic faiths, sex was commemorated as a source of holiness and sanctification when used in a proper manner. These proper manners consist of three points: 1. Only between man and woman (condemns homosexual partnerships) 2. The transmission of human life (condemns contraceptives) and 3. Solely within a lawful marriage. Therefore, it would be a struggle and somewhat contradicting to attempt in separating religion from sex. Christian fundamentalists argue that the act of sexual intercourse outside or before a marriage is considered to be unethical and morally wrong, with that they claim sexual acts are only to be carried out as a means for procreation, not pleasure. Religion has always played a significant role in what is deemed right or wrong pertaining to sexual acts, and although many may claim that revolutionary change has come within the church’s dealing on sexual morality, the Catholic church still strongly holds most of its traditional values.

During that era, the entirety of sexual intercourse (irrespective to the practice of married couples with intentions to procreate) was deemed immoral. This was because any practice of sexual activity was

The movement of Purity balls is a very interesting and prevalent movement in our society. Many women choose abstinence at a very young age. This choice is made with the encouragement of their fathers. Throughout this essay I will examine religion, as an institution, that governs women’s bodies and sexuality. I will first, describe my opinions on purity balls, secondly, analyze the patriarchal dominance between a father and his daughters, and finally look at some of the redeeming aspects and the consequences of limited knowledge of sexual education.

Early philosophers taught people to know ‘the divine truth of the gods,’ possession by the gods needed to took place, becoming ‘overwhelmed with religion;’ principally, there were numerous instigators of this obsession, like Pan, Aphrodite, and Bacchus. Due to the gods and goddesses offensive reputations concerning ‘sacred sex,’ with temple prostitutes and other methods, Satan’s lust encompasses an enormous domination over the people and effectively establishes sexual pleasure as his invention. Due to this conditioning, God’s sexual position within the Christian movement would have numerous obstacles to contend with. Importantly, the division within the Christian Church

The most important recurring issues in the study of the history of Christianity during our time period is sexual abuse amongst the Catholic Clergy and abortion, the killing of a living entity, as it is a sin against God according to biblical doctrine. Many believe that sexual abuse happening in the Catholic Church, is directly related to celibacy. The Churches restriction on priests that directs them to abstain from sexual relations. This issue has been debated since the reformation in which Martin Luther and other reformers opposed celibacy. They based their argument against celibacy on the bible scripture, namely Genesis 1:28, where God wanted people to “be fruitful and multiply”. There is nothing in the bible that directly mentions celibacy. There are many versions that mention fornication and uncleanliness and the interpretation of the Catholic Church seems to have made this deduction based on those scriptures. The other major issue that is common in most of the world’s religions is abortion; the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and the Protestant Church still adopt the early church’s belief to oppose the practice of abortion. Abortion is considered murder and a mortal sin in accordance which many versus in the bible as it relates to each of these faiths. Even between the Old Testament, where the law or Tora refers to the 10 commandments, where Exodus 20:13 states “Thou shall not Murder” and

be between man and wife, however, they also believed that sex is something God allows

Vern L. Bullough's article, "On Being a Male in the Middle Ages," addresses how vital it was for a man living in the middle ages to be sexually active in order to maintain a masculine identity by explaining:

The Elizabethan age regarded women’s sexuality as a form of currency. In England’s social structure currency was a means to power. A woman’s virginity was something to be bargained for, and when the time was right, sold to the highest bidder. In modern day, this slightly resembles prostitution, but during Elizabethan times selling a daughter’s virginity was the quickest way up the social ladder. During this time, the sacrifice of virginity implies marriage. Young women rarely married on the idea of love alone, due to the father’s interests in finding an ideal husband that will strengthen the family’s position within the community. Author of Shakespeare’s Women, Angela Pitt states “if for some reason it was impractical for a girl to marry she was encouraged to enter a nunnery,” (15). English women were predominantly ignored outside of the matrimonial and spiritual world.

While Europeans in the Elizabethan Era were over the top and elaborate in many ways, marriage was not one of them. Regarded as a rite of passage, marriage lacked the festivities and passion to make it any more than what it was: a social requirement. From the extensive marriage contract process to the obvious pressure from their parents, youth hardly considered marriage lightly. After all, choosing the wrong spouse, or even choosing to not marry at all, could negatively impact one’s future severely. For the majority of the population, marriage was an expectation for means of improvement, not for love. Forget finding oneself infatuated with someone then marrying them or feeling like a goddess on your wedding day, because marriage was common, anticipated and carried out by reasons of sensibility. Even a bride’s wedding dress was chosen for practicality and eventually turned into part of her everyday wardrobe.

The Middle Ages were a time of expanding and experimenting sexually for the people. Religious figures who had taken vows of celibacy had children, sometimes with more than one woman. Even some popes of the time had illicit affairs. However,

The economics of marriage was not the only pressure on children to marry where their parents directed. Sixteenth-century children, and girls in particular, were very much brought up to obey, and to believe that it was their duty to their parents… to marry the person chosen for them. It would have taken a very strong-minded girl indeed to have refused to follow her parents’ wishes. Girls who did refuse the partner offered could find themselves bullied by their parents. (3)

The morality about sex had a main aim: An ideal of purity based on a chastity code which emphasized the relevance of premarital continence. In order to keep this chastity code, anything related to sex was silenced in an attitude of deliberated ignorance, an attitude of rejection of sex, especially in women, who usually associated sex with a marital duty.

Virginity is a social construct that has various definitions and values from different people in the United States. I am conducting my research based on the question of whether the concept of losing one’s virginity is valued differently among males and females in the United States, regardless of their sexual orientation.