File this under "things I did not want to imagine existed"

[flewellyn]

I'm all in favor of people inventing new and interesting ways to experience each other sexually. So long as everyone involved is a consenting adult human, nobody is injured, and everyone has a good time, I don't care what two or more people enjoy doing in the privacy of their own home/hotel room/RV/tent/empty field in the middle of nowhere with a wisk, a can of shaving foam, cellophane, tights, and a miner's helmet. I may not want to see the pictures, mind you, but I figure, as long as it's safe, sane, and consensual, whatever! I really don't care who's doing who, what they're doing with each other, and where they bought the equipment...usually.

There are, however, some things I happen upon which I think are truly screwed up and wrong. Things like the Gigimo Artificial Virginity Hymen.

The description, unedited:

No more worry about losing your virginity. With this product, you can have your first night back anytime. Insert this artificial hymen into your vagina carefully. It will expand a little and make you feel tight. When your lover penetrate, it will ooze out a liquid that look like blood not too much but just the right amount. Add in a few moans and groans, you will pass through undetectable. Its easy to use, clinically proven non-toxic to human and has no side effects, no pain to use and no allergic reaction.

I think it should be obvious why my reaction to this was (no pun intended), "What the FUCK?"

Are there really that many men out there who care that badly about their girlfriends or wives being virgins, that there is a market for such a thing? Apparently, there are. And apparently, there are enough women who feel, for whatever reason, that they must deceive their boyfriends or husbands into thinking they are virgins through the use of this device.

I would imagine that women who buy and use these devices do so to protect themselves from retribution, either from their boyfriends or husbands, or the larger community; it's not unheard of in some places for men who find that their new wives are not virgins, to kill them as a matter of "honor", or for the woman's family to do the same. And even if that's not the case, they may suffer great public shaming and social ostracism.

This is one of those things where, at first, I laugh, but then the implications hit me, and I sigh and get depressed. The sheer batshit insane patriarchal fuckedupitude is absurd on one level, but on another, it's deadly serious.

Comments

[my-aerie.livejournal.com]

SOOOOO many women aren't "physical" virgins anyway...I didn't bleed my first time. My hymen prolly broke during gymnastics or something. Or tampons, or playing with a vibe.

I linked this to the guy I'm involved with and we were discussing it...we both think it's probably more likely to be fetish related than a woman trying to deceive her partner? Some people have a thing about virginity, I imagine it could be a turn on for some guys to have an experience that mimics taking virginity, by breaking the hymen. Likewise, it might be a turn on for a woman to have an experience mimicking losing her virginity, by breaking the hymen.

Maybe it's just the hopeful side of me that thinks it's more fetish related than deception related, though...I don't like thinking that people could be like that. :/



For the price, I'm half tempted to get it and use it just to see if there is an appeal for myself or my partner (then again, the only person I'm gettin it on with lately lives far away, and we only get it on over the phone, so if I bought it, it might be a damn long time before I could use it).

[flewellyn.livejournal.com]

Well, it IS from Japan...the fetishes they have there terrify Great Cthulhu. Especially since they have Cthulhu fetish porn.

[naamah-darling.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that, marketed as a fetish item, I'd be all about it. It could be great fun for roleplaying.

The idea that there are people out there who really do care and get upset about women not being virgins is revolting, though, and honestly, there are way more possessive assholes than there are playful kinksters.

[nimbrethil.livejournal.com]

This was my thought, too. I see both as being the two primary reasons behind its popularity. I definitely see some women, at least, taking advantage of this in bids to protect themselves, but I also bet that a great many men would be all over this because of their fixation on female virginity. I think women interested in this for that purpose would be motivated more by their male partner's fetish than their own, too.