why so many religions place so much importance on virginity (in general of women)?

Question

what do you think?
All opinions will be appreciated.

Answer 1

Not the religion .... it is the person who had wrote the book .... generally, in the olden days men are quite .... you know .... MCP :P......

(damm... and I call myself a male ... .LOL)

Answer 2

Most religions see the family as an important stabilizing factor in society. In turn, it was (still is, in my personal opinion) important that women don't have children until they are married, thus being only a burden on their husbands while they are raising the children that they have. This way, young children can get the personal attention that only a mother can give without being a burden on the rest of society in general. Until recently, this required a woman to be a virgin until she was married. Effective birth control methods are a very recent development and it was easy for women to become pregnant if they were not virgins.

(As a side-note, it is possible for fathers to give children the necessary attention as well; however, it is not as common for men to be able to withstand the psychological rigors of being with the children for such long periods. At the same time, there are a few women that can't put up with it, either.)

Answer 3

If you are asking why the emphasis on women more than men, I think it is cultural. The values of a culture always influence the religion of its people, whether they know it or not.

A Social Darwinist would argue that the reason is that when a child is born, a woman always knows it is her child since it comes from her body, but a man does not know that for sure (unless he has access to modern DNA testing technology), so natural selection has selected men who are more concerned about making sure that no other men impregnate their women. Such men are more likely to pass on their genes.

From a modern western Christian point of view, virginity is important in both sexes because sex is an emotional bonding behaviour. The purpose of it is not just reproduction but to cement the pair bond in marriage.

If people have sex with other people outside the pair then the bond is weakened and this is bad for marriage and family life.

If people have sex before marriage then the bond formed is inappropriate because it is not part of a life-long commitment to a pair bond relaitionship, and it weakens the effect of sex on future pair bonding.

It is significant that the commands in the bible against adultery, both in the Old Testament and in the New, are addressed primarily to men, although the society in those days was far more concerned about adultery by women (as demonstrated in the case where they brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus but did not bother to prosecute the man responsible).

Answer 4

I believe this was generally pushed onto women by men who did not want to support children that were not their own. By ensuring their wives were virgins, they could also ensure (or so they thought!) their children born from the marriage would be their own. Marx believed men did this to women as a way of controlling them, and Christians value virginity for many different reasons. Some scholars think they did so to reject the lack of sexual mores of roman culture, others connect the value of virginity to the virgin birth (a common theme in many religions). But the problem with that is that virginity in Christianity should also be applicable to men...!
As for other religions, I can't say for Islam or Judaism, as I just don't know, but in Hinduism and Buddhism, virginity and sexuality are much more 'open' issues, less prone to rules and regulations.

Answer 5

From what I have seen, the religions that put such importance upon the virginity of women do so only to control women. A lot of the religions in the world are "men's only" clubs that don't want women gaining too much power. Men and women are equal but different.

Blessed Be )O(

Answer 6

well christianity places so much importance on virginity before marriage because that is what God planned. And it's not exclusive of women, the Bible says that everyone is supposed to avoid sex outside of marriage

Answer 7

thats true, you never hear really of a mans virginity of being important. i think because virginity represents purity, no destruction of 'innocence'. But surely if virginity was lost in the right way, in the presence of love, then no purity or innocence would be lost. thats why i think so much importance is placed on being married first, because people assume that we marry into love. not always the case but a good idea im sure :)

Answer 8

Biblically, God has used the relationship between man and wife as an allegorical reference to his relationship with his people.

The Song of Solomon almost sounds like the excerpts from a sexy romance novel and then there is circumcision . Cutting the foreskin of the penis as a sign to recognise his people.

Virginity, God has always used this as a sign of purity. He chose a people onto himself. He called it fornication and adultery when they went after other Gods.

His church, his bride should be chaste as should ours. Let us not forget the virgin birth, prophesied in the old manifested in the new testaments

Answer 9

Speaking in Spiritual manner virginity refers to a woman who have not committed a sin, a woman who is holy and sacred, a woman who is faithful to God and obey God above all.

It is not the virginity which we consider or appreciate in humanity.
jtm

Answer 10

back in the days of the bible, virgin meant a woman who has not yet given birth. today, of course, it means a girl who has not had sex. back then, without today's birth control, girls became pregant very easily. to do so out of wedlock meant she wouldn't be able to proove who the father was. men wanted to be sure the babies were theirs, so women had to wait until marriage.

Answer 11

well...cuz so many men just try to hit and run
and many of them do not care about the women
to be honest is not just the religion ....,.many young ones are crazy about to lose it...but they are misguided
in ancient times when a woman was found pregnant with not man....she was stoned
and now if we found a pregnant woman....it is normal
the religion is trying to convince woman to keep it
cuz it is a God thing
the bible says "flee from fornication"
that is why they encourage woman to be virgens