How to Lose Your Virginity: Hymen Marketplace from Trixie Films on Vimeo.

As if to re-inforce last week's post, here is a clip from Therese Shechter's upcoming film, 'How To Lose Your Virginity'. This makes me want to shake with laughter and weep tears of frustration at the same time. To quote Adios Barbie, 'hymens tell as accurate a story about a woman’s sexual history as the tip of a man’s penis tells about his. That is, no story at all'.

One does get the feeling that if the tables turned and men were the one's who were judged for the tips of their manhood, someone might have done something about this shambles by now. In fact, the history of the world could probably be re-written in its entirety if men were judged on sexual status in the same way that women were but that is not just another blog post, its another book. In the meantime, bravo to Sweden, who Therese writes about on a recent post on her blog. 'Cable have Shark Week', writes Therese. 'We have Hymen Week'. As part of Hymen Week, they are posting their favorite hymen related stories. I liked this one. In a nutshell, the Swedish Association for Sexuality Education has coined a new term with which to talk about this controversial - for it is - area of a woman's body: they call it the, ahem,’ vaginal corona'.  The SASE goes on to tell us that 'surgery on the vaginal corona rarely solves any problems, firstly because outcomes vary and secondly, because it helps to maintain patriarchal structures and a prejudiced view of women and their sexuality'. 

Yeah, you're probably thinking to yourself, I knew that. And I'm sure you do. But are our British leaders and government working to re-iterate this idea? Are the voices of authority in this country really trying to drive this potentially life-saving message home to the people who need to hear it? You wouldn’t think so if you asked Nadine Dorries, a British (female - the horror) MP who recently proposed giving compulsory abstinence education to all girls. This, in 2012.

It’s heartbreaking, not to mention hideously backward to ask young women to carry on such a sexist old tradition. Why is it only girls who need to be taught to ‘say no’? Legislating the idea that women are shy maidens who would do anything to avoid sexual contact with hormonal boys is really not the healthiest of concepts to teach young people. Girls have hormones too – and why should they be made to feel guilty about that. I also hear from enough young men on this blog to know that men also feel the pressure to ‘be men’, i.e. sometimes boys say yes…..when they mean 'no' because who wants to be thought of as a big nerd?

So please let’s not send the next generation back from whence we came. It’s been a heck of a long journey from the 1950’s to the present day. Thank god people have seen sense and not allowed Nadine Dorries to take us back there. At least for the moment.