(no subject)

[ivyfic]

I am currently reading Virgin: The Untouched History, which is far less titillating than you'd think, and contains way more information about genitalia than you probably ever wanted to know. Mostly, though, you can't talk about virginity without talking about why it has been historically so prized—as a means to control women's sexuality and take away their choice as to when and how they have sex. It reminds me why there were feminists in the first place. Lest it seem that only women have been subjected to ludicrous tests of their virginity (her nipples point down! she must be a ho!), here's a little tidbit for you:

In medieval times, some people believed that if a boy's voice cracked before he was seventeen, that was proof that he'd had homosexual encounters. So how bout it guys—when did your voice crack?

Comments

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

My voice started changing in 7th grade, so I'd have been 12 or 13 at the time. Of course, I enjoy cooking, knitting, and musical theater; therefore it should already be common knowledge that I'm the gayest gaylord who ever gayed.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I found Sex in History by Reay Tannahill most interesting on the subjects of taboos and thinking about sex and how they evolved.

Mostly, I liked how she got the evo-psych about it correct (as opposed to every other evo-psych bullshit that is only ever brought up to prove prevailing norms are the correct ones according to "biology".) It's less that men controlled women's sexuality at first than it is they sought to control their reproductive ability. Like any other species, males had to compete to pass on their genes. As soon as consciousness evolved to a point where they could recognize that copulating and pregnancy were related, there was an interest for each male in being sure a given female only had sex with him. Physical intimidation of both females and rivals became a necessary part of that. As man evolved further in terms of conscious ability to reason, the cage around the female became internalized. And voila, misogyny. Really cool, entirely plausible biological explanation.

I find such truisms as the one you mentioned hilarious. It certainly would take the mystery out of a show like "Gay, Straight or Taken" if it were that easy to determine who was what.