Virginity Lost: An Intimate Portrait of First Sexual Experiences (63 page)

College

Tolman, Deborah,
100 Transformation: at virginity loss, 87,

136,
145–146,
163–164.
See
Rite

of passage

True Love Waits (TLW), 182

Trust: of partner,
78,
110,
163; in in-

terviews,
211 Truthfulness.
See
Honesty Turner, Victor,
143, 170

Turning points: other than virginity loss,
68,
123,
135–136,
160, 164,

170,
186; virginity loss as,

184–185, 206

Union of Concerned Scientists,
199 Uniqueness, of virginity,
71,
95 United States, compared with Europe,

191–192,
198, 200

Urbanization,
26–27,
29, 33

Vaginal sex: and definitions of virgin- ity loss,
44–45,
68,
83,
162; moral privileging of,
233n.
4; pleasure/discomfort, 149

Van Buren, Abigail, 41

van Gennep, Arnold,
151,
245n. 1,

245n. 2

Vance, Carole, 42

Victorian sexual culture,
23–26,
30,
54 Virginity: as challenge,
133; as choice,

207; detection of,
102, 222–223n.

16,
241n.
9; idealized,
19–21,
32; irrelevant to gays/lesbians,
45–46,
204,
220n.
36; as part of self, 49,

61–63,
69,
81,
86–87; rarity pre-

sumed,
75; signs of,
2,
38,
96,
102,
153; as social category/cultural phenomenon,
5,
217–218n.
11,
254n.
26; linked with homosexual- ity,
108; supernatural powers,
18; transgressive potential,
233n. 5.

See also
Premarital virginity Virginity loss: ages at,
4,
43,
51, 58,

113,
191,
238n.
47; coming out,

links with,
160,
164,
248n.
29; compared to other transitions,
39,
143,
167; and construction of gen-

der identity,
99–100, 130,

138–139,
144,
176,
246n.
5; and

construction of sexual identity,
117,
138–139,
152,
155–156, 159,

164,
176; and construction of so-

cial identities,
203,
205; defined, 4,

6,
10,
18–20,
44–56,
68,
83, 89,

101,
136,
138,
157,
162,
207; as

end in itself,
105; equated with vaginal sex,
44–45,
68,
83, 162,

217n.
9; etymology,
18–19; expec- tations about sex altered by,
186; marriage, links with,
80,
118, 141;

significance attributed to,
6, 14,

16,
39,
73,
88–90,
128,
131, 136,

161–162,
165–166, 195–196,

202–204; term critiqued,
217–218n.
11; as transition to adulthood,
14,
111,
136, 143,

145–146,
175–176,
203–204; as

turning point,
184–185,
206.
See also
Definitions of virginity loss

Virginity pledges,
1,
182,
197, 199,

253n. 5

Virtue,
23–24, 36

Walters, Barbara, 59

Waxman, Henry,
201,
249n.
7 Weber, Max,
221n. 42

Well of Loneliness
(novel), 35

Where the Boys Are
(movie), 230n.

146

White, Renee, 110

Will and Grace
(series), 42 Willis, Ellen, 42

Women: control of men’s sexuality,
24,
178–179; good girl/bad girl di-

chotomy,
36,
38–40,
90; interest in virginity of,
6,
60; as men’s prop- erty,
60–61,
223n.
16; preference for nonvirgins,
32; pressure to lose virginity,
39–40; recognized as sex- ual beings,
31; stereotypes, 23,

129–130; virginity desirable in, 20,

32; virginity eroticized,
116, 127.

See also
Gender

Women’s Christian Temperance Union, 28

Women’s movement.
See
Feminism, feminist movement

World Health Organization (WHO), 194

World War II, 35

World Wide Web,
182,
201–202.
See also
Internet, virginity hoaxes on

Worship.
See
Act-of-worship metaphor; Religion, religious be- liefs

Wyatt, Gail Elizabeth, 110

Youth cultures, countercultures,
3, 27,

38–39,
74, 142

’Zines, 201–202

About the Author
‌

Laura M. Carpenter is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt Uni- versity, where she conducts research and teaches courses on gender, sex- uality, and health over the life course. She received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and held postdoctoral fellowships from the Social Science Research Council—Sexuality Research Fellow- ship Program and National Institute of Aging at the Johns Hopkins Uni- versity Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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