Subjectification of virginity: Physical or conceptual?

Pages: 1849-1855
Pankhuri Chandra and Anuradha Sharma (Amity Institute of Psychology and Allied Studies, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh)

The aim of this paper is to highlight the gender positions taken up by young men and women with regard to virginity. This research has been an endeavor aimed at understanding the experiential space that young people of the present generation come from and the subjectivities they derive from their perspective on their own sexuality. Using the qualitative research technique of discourse analysis, the idea had been to cultivate an image of the sexual life of the participants, with the notion of virginity being the focal point. From an analysis of the narratives it became apparent that the idea of virginity was much bigger in the minds of the female participants as compared to the males. It was also evident that women gave themselves some accountability with regard to agency and choice; however, it is obvious that their basic ideology about virginity still remains in the clutches of the dominant discourses of societal morality. The male participants had a laid back attitude towards virginity and thought of it more as a rite of passage than anything else. This study could be an entry point into whether there has been a shift in gender roles and subjectivities with regard to virginity and whether this is just a physical phenomenon or has been made into much more than that by attaching societal and personal doctrines to it.