The hymen is the stuff of legend and lore in many cultures, the treasured prize a woman gives her husband on their wedding night. People often do not know what it looks like or what really happens to it when virginity is lost. For example, some of my teen patients have questions about a partner male or female inserting a finger into a vagina. If a girl uses a tampon does that cause her to lose her virginity? If she falls off her bike, might that affect her hymen, and thus her virginity?

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Your hymen
The belief that it is easier to discern the virgin state of a woman than a man is more fable than fact, argues medical anthropologist Sherria Ayuandini. Unfortunately, it is still widely believed and practised to subjugate women. The Human Rights Watch condemned the test as a form of gender-based violence and called on the military to end the practice immediately, which it says violates the prohibition of inhuman treatment under international human rights law. Many pointed out the injustice of the practice, arguing that it is sexist, painful and traumatising. They also point out that virginity is irrelevant to whether or not an officer would be able to do her police duty. Virginity testing is not unique to Indonesia. Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Iraq, to name a few, have had their fair share of controversial virginity testing. In Turkey in the s , five students attempted suicide rather than be subjected to the test, so it was subsequently banned.
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I never had a hymen Betty never had a hymen. When I shared with my mother that hymens thin out and break apart with the release of estrogen during puberty, she was relieved. She was a virgin when she got married and always wondered why she didn't bleed after her first intercourse. Her exact words, "why didn't someone tell me this in school?
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