Bible and virginity

At the outset let me clarify that I by no means claim to be a scholars nor have in-depth knowledge of Bible. However, I will be fairly exercising my own understanding and interpretation of passage and verse and I highly welcome any counter arguments. Let me also clear my stand on topic, I dont despise people who pledge to remain virgin till their marriage neither do I encourage anyone to lose their virginity. As such this is a personal choice and should be left to discretion and choice of individual themselves.

To begin with, virginity in Bible is highly skewed towards woman. According to NIV Bible, the words virgin or virginity is explicitly mention 58 times excluding construction such as 'haven't slept with any man or have not known any man.' And of the 58, 4 refers to 'virgin Isreal' and the rest are directed at woman either as individual or as daughter of somebody's or place. However there is no mention of men virginity and this show how male oriented Bible is written.

Secondly, the craze of characters for woman virginity. Take for one the first mention of Virgin is from books of Genesis where a servant went out in search of wife for Isaac and he found virgin Rebecca by the well (Genesis 24:16). Again in book of Leviticus it state that the priest should only marry a virgin (Levi 21:13,14) further this rule is mention in the book of Ezekiel (Eze 44:22). The craze for virgin woman doesn't end in old testament and Jesus decided to be concieved by virgin Mary ( Mat 1:25, Luke 1:27). One may further look up Judge 21:11, 2 Samuel 13:2, 1 Kings 1:2 and Esther 2:2.

Thirdly, in the Bible virginity is equated with woman dignity and purity. The equation of virginity with purity is mention in the book of Leviticus in the 'do and don't' of high priest so as to remain holy (Leviticus 21:10-14). Though now we know that one can lose their virginity due to a number of reason other than sex, in the Bible a non virgin woman is consider 'evil' who must be purge from the society by stoning to death (Deuteronomy 22:21). Further, in Paul letters to Corinthians he stated that he will introduce them to Christ as pure virgin. The reference of 'virgin Isreal' in Jeremiah 31:4,12; Amos 5:2 refers to purity. This goes beyond considering virginity as dignity to the extend of practice of weeping for virginity (Judge 11:39, Jeremiah 14:17, Joel 1:8).

Fourthly and most disgraceful, it institutionalize rape and set a price for virginity. Deuteronomy 22:28 explicitly mention that in case a man cross a virgin woman and rape her and if they are discovered, he shall pay 50 shekel of silver to the woman father and marry her. Given that the punishment for non-virginity is stoning to death in verse 22, this is injustice in totality. The trauma of not only been raped but that you should be wife of your rapist is beyond imagination. Further in 2 Samuel 13:2 when king David know that his virgin daughter 'Tamar' has been raped by her own brother 'Ammon' he only got furious and do nothing about it. It is beyond comprehension that a father would simply not take action against the rapist of his daughter but his reaction is to get furious. Further, Judge 21:11 mention of Isreal attacking Jabesh Gilead and killing everyone including children and woman and sparing only virgin woman, later to be taken as wife by their family murderer. This clearly state that raping has been institutionalize in the society and is acceptable if one could pay the price for virginity.

Fifthly, the details description of obscenity. In the book of judges it describe an incidents where the man of the town demanded to have sex with the levites and his host suggested that the levite be spared and that instead they have sex with his virgin daughter and the levite concubine (Judge 19:24). This find reminiscent with the story of Lot virgin daughters in Genesis 19:8. More obscenity is in the descriptions of Oholah and Oholibah who became prostitute in Egypt in the book of Ezekiel 23:3-20. Here it mention of their breast been fondled and virgin bosom caressed by men. More obscene is how Oholibah lusted overs picture of man on walls and  that her lover's genitals were like that of donkeys and sperms ejaculation like that of horse.

It is very welcoming indeed that now most people reject such idea of virginity as to determine the dignity and character of women. Our society has much evolve from been homophobic to celebrating pride month, from stoning to death of non-virgin woman to embracing and humanizing sex workers. I must also appreciate the teaching of  Jesus that even those who commit adultery should be treated equally and given another chance to repent (John 8:1-11). Its encouraging that the western christian dominated country are showing the way to tolerance.

Though welcoming the development towards an inclusive liberal society, sadly there is no legal rights in India currently banning virginity test. Though two finger virginity test has been accorded as sexual assault, a  more comprehensive law is needed to be adopted to ban harassment of woman through virginity test except in  unavoidable case related to dispensation of justice. As our society, we should also shun and discourage such practice, we need to realize that in doing so we encroach upon someone right to privacy and their freedom of expression. We further need to open up our traditional and religious practice to the scrutiny of logic and discharge those which fail to stand up against it. 

More importantly we need to step up our sex education so that each individual is aware of the risk associated with unprotected sex. We need to realize that like food, clothes and shelter, sex is also one of basic biological needs and remove negative connotation associated with it. We must also realize that in society deeply rooted in idea of virginity equals dignity, the perpetrators of rape will be shielded as complaints of rape will means that the girl have loss her virginity and will remain a desolate woman (2 Sam 13:20). This will not only compound the pain and mental stress endures by the victim but also the perpetrators will most likely perpetrates the crime again with no fear of been punish for their heinous crime.  More than ever we need man standing up for the rights and equal treatment of woman. We man need to be open minded when engaging with a woman and must be willing to accept her as she is. After all if virginity is all you care about in your woman, in first place you are not meant for her.

Lastly, we must not encroach on the rights of others guarantee by our constitution. Lets not remain a mute spectators when someone is been mistreated rather use our voice for the voiceless. And always  remember the words of Martin Luther King Junior:

"He who passively accept evil is as much as involved in it as he who help perpetrate it. He who accepts evils without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."