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- Stories about women's sexual organs have been misleading for centuries.
- One of the most popular is about the functioning of the hymen and that it breaks and can never return to what it was before.
- This notion has led to unnecessary surgical options to tighten the hymen.
Many stories have been told about how girls and women lose their virginity. The most common thing said is that when a woman has sex for the first time, their hymen breaks, and they are no longer a virgin.
Others have said the breaking of the hymen occurs not only when one engages in sexual activity. They say it can also break during any physical activity, such as horse riding.
They say when you first have sex, the thin membrane is ripped and torn and never returns to what it used to be.
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Gynaecologist Laia Valls Perez says, "In real life, you never lose your hymen. It doesn't even have to be broken because it's not a closed membrane that covers the vagina.
"Think about it, how could girls bleed once a month if the hymen was totally closed? The hymen lies at the entrance of a vagina. "The hymen is like a ring of very, very elastic skin. If you have vaginal penetrative sex or if you masturbate, it will be stretched, and if it's not stretched for a while, then it will go back to its original shape," Laia says.
The hymen might look like a band of tissue across the centre, its ring shaped like a C or crescent, to name a few possibilities. There are a few people who do have a hymen that is closed.
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"It's not so typical, nor does it happen so often. A closed hymen creates problems when girls menstruate. Then the blood can't go out of the vagina, but that is not a big problem. If this is the case, then you might need to see a doctor who will open it just a little bit, and everything will be fine," Laia adds.
What is important to note is that it's perfectly natural and normal that a hymen has holes and that the hymen is always there; you don't lose it. It just stretches and stays where it is. So, it's not true when people talk about breaking the hymen or popping the cherry.
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"It's totally absurd; forget about that. It's just a big lie. No one can tell from your hymen if you're a virgin or not. That's just not possible. It can also be stretched by other things like sports," she says.
However, there are still these surgical options to reconstruct the hymen. In these surgical options, they say they use glue or sow your membrane back together.
"These surgeries are nonsense. There's no such thing as one shape of a hymen. If nothing has to be broken, why should you glue something." It is known that some girls put capsules of artificial blood into their vaginas to simulate bleeding.
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"You don't know what is in these red liquids, and so the vagina is such a complicated and complex system. I don't think it's a good idea to stuff it with things that could be toxic."
There is a study that answers the question, why do some women report bleeding after having vaginal sex. The hymen doesn't have many blood vessels. It's rather a wall that bleeds.
"The hymen can bleed if you don't pay attention, if you're too quick or rough, or just don't use enough lubrication. The problem is that everyone tells you, you will bleed on your first time, but all you need to do is relax and enjoy," Laia adds.
