The taboo of premarital sex and sex entirely is very old. Most religions advocate and find it ideal for people to remain virgins until marriage. In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins had powers and were committed to 30 years of celibacy usually from ages 10-40. They had rights other citizens did not and their word was taken without question. If they were found to have broken their vow, which was rare, the punishment was being buried alive with a few days of food and water. I’d say that’s good incentive to wait. Once the period of 30 years was over, they were retired and allowed to live a normal life, get married, etc. But if they broke those vows, what a grim end awaited them.
Even in today’s world, in many Muslim countries, if a girl is found to not be a virgin, even by rape against her will, she could very well be subject to an “honor killing”, where it is viewed she has brought such shame upon her family, their good name can only be restored if she is killed. In the Western societies, virginity does not have the stranglehold it once did, and it’s viewed as merely a right of passage into adulthood and the honor of ones family is not at stake if it is lost.
Yet it’s always the women’s virginity in question here, it’s the one that everyone is concerned with. Males are expected to have sex, either with older women, widows, or prostitutes and no one questions their morality or calls them sluts for doing so. The double standard reigns supreme in the world of virginity. It’s prized and desired in females, yet in males it is something to be discarded as fast as they can.
