Hymen
The hymen (or maidenhead) is a membrane which completely or partially occludes the vaginal opening in human females. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "membrane". Because sexual activity would usually puncture this membrane, its presence has been considered a guarantor of virginity in societies that place a high value on female chastity before marriage.
During the early stages of fetal development there is no opening into the vagina at all. The thin layer of tissue that conceals the vagina at this time usually divides incompletely prior to birth, forming the hymen. The size and shape of this opening (or openings) varies greatly from person to person. Some of the common ones are:
- Annular – in which the hymen forms a ring around the vaginal opening.
- Septate – in which the hymen has one or more bands extending across the opening.
- Cribriform – in which the hymen stretches completely across the vaginal opening, but looks shot full of holes.
- Parous Introitus – which refers to the vaginal opening which has had a baby pass through it and consequently has nothing left of its hymen but a fleshy irregular outline decorating its perimeter.
The hymen is often lost during childhood in the course of normal physical activities such as bike riding, gymnastics, masturbation, or sometimes falling down the wrong way; it is also possible for the hymen to break while using tampons. Some women can engage in sexual intercourse without the hymen breaking; some are born with no hymen at all, others with closed hymens that require a medical procedure to allow menstruation, while others have overly thick hymens that may require a gynecologist to break the hymen to prevent pain for the woman during sex, a procedure called a hymenotomy. For these and many other reasons, the hymen should not be used as evidence for or against one's chastity or virginity.
Sometimes a woman has the hymen surgically restored in order to feign virginity.
