Hymen

Hymen (god) thumb| thumb| The hymen is a thin piece of mucosal tissue that surrounds or partially covers the vaginal opening. A small percentage are born with hymens that are imperforate and completely obstruct the vaginal canal. It forms part of the vulva and is similar in structure to the vagina. The term comes straight from the Greek, for 'membrane'. In older literature, it is often called the maidenhead. A Thou grudgest thy maidenhead? What avails it? When thou goest to Hades thou shalt find none to love thee there. The joys of Love are in the land of the living, but in Acheron, dear virgin, we shall lie dust and ashes. Asclepiades of Samos, Anthologia Palatina, bk. 5, no. 85 (tr. W. R. Paton, vol. i, p. 169) B The Membrane call'd Hymen, is a Sign or Note of Virginity, because 'tis not to be found in any but Virgins. That there is such a thing 'tis not to be doubted, we have such great Authorities for it. But in Sickly young Girls, or such as are of a wanton temper, 'tis not so perfect as in a Healthy young Maid, that is Vertuous in Thought and in Deed. ... In the first coition Pain and Bloodshed ensues upon breaking it. Its use is to defend the Internal Parts. Robert Barret, A Companion for Midwives, Child-bearing Women, and Nurses (1699), pt. II, ch. 1 As unthrifts groan in straw for their pawn’d beds,As women weep for their lost maidenheads,When both are without hope or remedy,Such an untimely grief I have for thee. Francis Beaumont, "An Elegy on the Lady Markham" C Netts, of passions finest thred,Snaring Poems, will be spred,All, to catch thy maiden-head. Thomas Carew, "Good counsel to a young Maid". Poems (1640) The custome was that euery maid did weare,During her maidenhead, a silken Sphere About her waste, aboue her inmost weede,Knit with Minevuas knot, and that was freedeBy the faire Bridegrome on the manage night,With many ceremonies of delight:And yet eternisde Hymens tender Bride,To suffer it dissolu’d so sweetly cride.The maids that heard so lou’d, and did adore her,They wisht with all their hearts to suffer for her.So had the Matrons, that with Confits stoodAbout the chamber, such affectionate blood,And so true feeling of her harmeles paines,That euery one a showre of Confits raines.For which the Brideyouths scrambling on the ground,In noyse of that sweet haile her cryes were drownd.And thus blest Hymen ioyde his gracious Bride, And for his ioy was after deifide. George Chapman, Hero and Leander (1598), Fift Sestyad Teares, quickly fled,And vaine, as those are shedFor a dying Maydenhead. Richard Crashaw, "Wishes to his Supposed Mistresse". The Delights of the Muses (1646) D If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, And give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; And, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; And they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you. Deuteronomy 22:13–21 (KJV) Saith she, “Yet liever I were dead,Than I should lose my maidenhead,  And all for love of men.” Michael Drayton, "The Ballad of Dowsabel". The Shepherd’s Garland (1593); Poems Lyrick and Pastorall (1605); Works (1619) I swear I’le keep my Maidenhead till death,And die as pure as Queen Elizabeth. John Dryden, "Daphnis and Chloris". Sylvæ (1685). After Theocritus, Idyll XXVII F By the shattered hymen of Thor's bride! Philip José Farmer, The Fabulous Riverboat (1971), Ch. 12 H Nausicaa, how comes it that thy mother bore thee so heedless? Thy bright raiment is lying uncared for; yet thy marriage is near at hand, when thou must needs thyself be clad in fair garments, and give other such to those who escort thee. It is from things like these, thou knowest, that good report goeth up among men, and, the father and honoured mother rejoice. Nay, come, let us go to wash them at break of day, for I will follow with thee to aid thee, that thou mayest with speed make thee ready; for thou shalt not long remain a maiden. Even now thou hast suitors in the land, the noblest of all the Phaeacians, from whom is thine own lineage. Homer, Odyssey, bk. 6 (tr. A. T. Murray, vol. i, 1919) L Lasses like Autumne Plums did drop,And Lads, indifferently did cropA Flower, and a Maiden-head. Richard Lovelace, "Love made in the first Age: To Chloris". Posthume Poems (1659) M Thy Beauty shall no more be found,Nor, in thy marble Vault, shall soundMy ecchoing Song: then Worms shall tryThat long preserv’d Virginity:And your quaint Honour turn to dust;And into ashes all my Lust. Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress". Miscellaneous Poems (1681) O She hating as a haynous crime the bonde of bridely bedDemurely casting downe hir eyes, and blushing somwhat red,Did folde about hir fathers necke with fauning armes: and sed:Deare father, graunt me while I live my maidenhead for to have,As to Diana here tofore hir father freely gave.Thy father (Daphne) could consent to that thou doest require,But that thy beautie and thy forme impugne thy chaste desire:So that thy will and his consent are nothing in this case,By reason of the beautie bright that shineth in thy face. Ovid, Metamorphoses, bk. I (Apollo and Daphne). Translated by Arthur Golding, The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso (1567) P Why, unhappy daughter of Pandion, dost thou mourn all day long, uttering thy twittering note? Is it that regret is come upon thee for thy maidenhead, which Thracian Tereus took from thee by dreadful force? Pamphilus, Anthologia Palatina, bk. 9, no. 57 (tr. W. R. Paton, vol. iii, p. 31) I throw the apple at thee, and thou, if thou lovest me from thy heart, take it and give me of thy maidenhead; but if thy thoughts be what I pray they are not, take it still and reflect how short-lived is beauty. Pseudo-Plato, Anthologia Palatina, bk. 5, no. 79 (tr. W. R. Paton, vol. i, p. 167) And thou, O! dear, delightful bed,The altar where Her maidenhead,With burning cheeks, and down cast eyes,With panting breasts, and kind replies,And other due solemnity,Was offer’d up to love and me. Matthew Prior, "Lamentation for Dorinda". Poems (1722) R Joy to the Bridegroome and the BrideThat lye by one anothers side!O fie upon the Virgin Bedds,No losse is gain but Maiden heads.Love quickly send the time may beWhen I shall deal my Rosemary! Thomas Randolph, "The Milk-maids Epithalamium" Earth’s not so coy as you are now.But willingly admits the plow.For how had man or beast been fed,If she had kept her maiden head? Thomas Randolph, "A Pastorall Courtship". Poems (1638) Have you not in a chimney seenA sullen faggot, wet and green,How coyly it receives the heatAnd at both ends does fume and sweat?So fares it with the harmless maidWhen first upon her back she’s laid;But the kind experienced dameCracks, and rejoices in the flame. Earl of Rochester, "A Description of Maidenhead" S With margerain jentyll,The flowre of goodlyhede,Embrowdred the mantillIs of your maydenhede. John Skelton, "To mastres Margery Wentworthe". The Garlande of Laurell (1528) And, God knows, I thought my Money was as safe as my Maidenhead. Jonathan Swift, "The Humble Petition of Frances Harris" (1700) T Have ye any crack’d maidenheads, to new leach or mend?Have ye any old maidenheads to sell or to change?Bring ’em to me, with a little pretty gin,  I’ll clout ’em, I’ll mend ’em, I’ll knock in a pin, Shall make ’em as good maids again,  As ever they have been.If your daughters on their beds,Have bowed or crack’d their maidenheads;If, in a coach, with too much tumbling,They chance to cry, fy, fo, what fumbling!If her foot slip, and down fall she,And break her leg above the knee;The one and thirtieth of February let this be ta’en,And they shall be arrant maids again. John Taylor, The Loyal Subject (1647), act 3, sc. 5 Anonymous I hoped that Ali had determined to marry me. I knew he would if he despoiled me of my virginity, for then my great market value would be gone. I lay passive with my eyes shut. A soft desire ran through my frame centring at the lips where Ali was pressing and making the pressure delightful. The longer he continued in this position the more I wished for a deeper and more satisfying thrust. But the gentle pushes he gave barely parted the outside lips. I could feel that they were stopped by the virgin membrane that barred any further entrance. . . . I was relieved of a melting thrill. At the same moment I felt Ali's answering throb and a gush of his sperm penetrated to the depths of my loins, far within the still unbroken curtain of my virginity. A Night in a Moorish Harem (1896), ch. 4 There's nane that gaes by CarterhaughBut they leave him a wad,Either their rings, or green mantles,Or else their maidenhead. Tam Lin (Child Ballad 39A), st. 2 Rava said that this is what the mishna is saying: An adult man who engaged in intercourse with a minor girl less than three years old has done nothing, as intercourse with a girl less than three years old is tantamount to poking a finger into the eye. In the case of an eye, after a tear falls from it another tear forms to replace it. Similarly, the ruptured hymen of the girl younger than three is restored. Ketubot 11b. Translated by Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, "The William Davidson Talmud", Sefaria (2017) Chess Set of Chastity: If a female plays a game of chess on this board and wins against a foe who broke her hymen, then her hymen will be restored and she will seem to be re-flowered. F.A.T.A.L. rulebook (2004) External links Category:Anatomy Category:Sexuality