Virgin

The Untouched History

By: Hanne Blank

Narrated by: Fran Tunno

Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

Why has an indefinable state of being commanded the attention and fascination of the human race since the dawn of time? In Virgin, Hanne Blank brings us a revolutionary, rich and entertaining survey of an astonishing untouched history.

From the simple task of determining what constitutes its loss to why it matters to us in the first place, Blank gets to the heart of why we even care about it in the first place. She tackles the reality of what we do and don't know about virginity and provides a sweeping tour of virgins in history - from virgin martyrs to Queen Elizabeth to billboards in downtown Baltimore telling young women it's not a "dirty word." Virgin proves, as well, how utterly contemporary the topic is - the butt of innumerable jokes, center of spiritual mysteries, locus of teenage angst, popular genre for pornography, and nucleus around which the world's most powerful government has created an unprecedented abstinence policy. In this fascinating work, Hanne Blank shows for the first time why this is, and why everything we think we know about virginity is wrong.

©2007 Hanne Blank (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

You Think You Know about Virginity?

From the “discovery” of the Hymen in ancient times to abstinence-only education in schools and purity balls today, Blank writes about the history of our preoccupation with "virginity." In her analysis, we can see the social construction of virginity, the sexism implicit in it, and the malleable definition of virginity over time.

Everything you think you know about virginity is up for debate. Blank writes with a great deal of humor and perception: "Of all the countries of the developed world, the United States is the only one that has to date created a federal agenda having specifically to do with the virginity of its citizens."

This book takes our assumptions, and turns them on their heads.

seminal text on Virginity as social construct

Hanne Blank's Virginity is an authoritative, illuminating, always fascinating exploration of a much misunderstood idea that, sadly, remains a silly but deadly serious preoccupation in far too much of the world. Highly recommended.

For Historians and Anthropologists!

Overall I really enjoyed this. The narrator is great. Just a BTW... she spends considerable time at the beginning really defining “virginity” and a provides a comprehensive anatomy lesson that I thought was a little excessive. But the latter 75% of the book discusses more of the history and culture that I was looking for

Would definitely recommend

This book was a very comprehensive overview on sexuality, primarily women's sexuality. Studying women/gender studies in my undergraduate coursework, and later on working in reproductive health care, I thought I had heard nearly all there was in women's sexuality. I was wrong, this book taught me an enormous amount of information. At times the author seems to use fillers and fluff to over embellished a point, but the message wasn't too diluted. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a better understanding of; history, self, society, and even laws as it relates to all that is virgin.

Fascinating

Would you listen to Virgin again? Why?

Yes, it's a great short history of not just virginity but touching on a variety of related topics including the historical status of women and families, the medical establishment's understanding of women's anatomy and sexual health, issues surrounding rape, religion's role in all of these things, the way government and other institutions deal with sexuality and virginity. Honestly when I got to the end I just wanted it to go on.

What did you like best about this story?

There is an exploration of the issues while continuing to see it all as part of a larger narrative. There is humour as well as a serious discussion of issues. It made me think a lot about things I had assumed or never questioned.

What does Fran Tunno bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The narrator was very clear and read with a sense of understanding and even enjoying the book themselves, which made it easy to listen and consider the content.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It's hard to pin down one particular thing as it is still very much swimming around my head, but there were definitely moments where I laughed out loud, got very angry or frustrated (destroy the patriarchy!), or just very sad for some of the people described.