VIRGINITY is the condition of young male and female persons who have not had sexual intercourse and have preserved their sexual innocence. This state is partly biologically determined, in that children do not yet have sexual potency; but that condition can be voluntarily or obligatorily extended until marriage, so that virginal status becomes a social fact. The significance of virginity, therefore, has to be understood in a wider social context, in which it bears specific symbolic meanings. A basic fact in every society is the organization of the relationship of men and women into various kinship systems to guarantee the reproduction of the human species. Being a complete man or woman presupposes sexual potency and activity. A virgin boy or girl has not yet reached the condition of full maturity, and therefore retains a purity that makes him or her more suited for certain religious functions or specific...