Basic Information
Chinese name: young woman
Chinese name: hymen
Foreign name: Hymen
Alias: urethral valve/vaginal valve
Caused by: formation of protective tissue formed by the vaginal process
Existence: Controversial in anthropology
Physiological Matters: No Evidence of Regression with Age
Basic overview
explain
The hymen is a thin layer of tissue that surrounds the vaginal opening in women at the boundary between the vaginal opening and the vaginal vestibule. Also called prevaginal membrane.
The hymen, English Hymen, is a film with a hole in the center that covers the outer opening of the vagina, and its location is at the vaginal opening, that is, the junction of the vagina and the vaginal vestibule. The vagina is located in the depression in the posterior lower part of the labia majora (the depression depth is about 2 to 3 cm), so it is often mistaken for the hymen to be in the vagina. The front and back of the hymen are pink or translucent, the same color as the surrounding mucous membranes. [2] The surface is wet. A girl's hymen is small and thick. As the woman's body matures, the hymen will gradually become larger and thinner, and has a certain degree of toughness. The hymen of an adult woman is about 1-2 mm thick and contains connective tissue, capillaries and nerve endings. In the center of the hymen, there is usually a small hole with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 cm, which is called "hymen hole" in medicine, and menstruation is excreted through this small hole. The shape of this small hole varies from person to person. According to the shape of the opening, the hymen hole can be divided into circular, oval, annular, sieve, umbrella, lobulated, star, septal, and crescent. , half moon, lip and more than 30 kinds. Common hymen holes are round and oval. In the Arab world, the crescent-shaped hymen is considered the most precious, on the basis that such hymens are extremely rare, with an average of about 15 per 100,000 people. In fact, there is no difference in the physiological function of the hymen of any shape, let alone whether it is precious or not. "Hymen Scar": Usually, a hymen hole allows a finger to be inserted slowly, but there are exceptions. Some girls may be born without a hymen hole, just as some people have some kind of birth defect. In some movies and novels, a lot of blood on the sheet is often used as a mark of a woman's loss of virginity, which gives people the impression that a virgin will bleed a lot when the hymen is ruptured for the first time. From a medical point of view, this is less accurate. In fact, when the hymen ruptures, the blood flow is not as smooth as when the large blood vessels are ruptured. The hymen ruptures after intercourse and is irregular around it, but the texture remains soft and scarring is not noticeable. When women give birth, due to the delivery of the fetus, the hymen is further damaged, leaving several smaller uplift marks later, which are called "hymen marks".
Hymen ≠ virgin
about rupture of the hymen: Since the hymen generally ruptures after sexual intercourse, the traditional concept of whether the hymen is intact is the only way to test whether a woman has had sex. [3] In ancient Greece, when the bride and groom entered the bridal chamber, two women called "Masht" followed as witnesses to the broken melon. The so-called "broken melon" is that the groom wraps his left finger with a white handkerchief, and then inserts it into the woman's vagina. Since Marsht helped the bride wash herself before entering the bridal chamber, some girls who had lost their lives bought Marsht into their vaginas with animal blood such as bird blood to confuse the man. In the history of our country, the inspection of "Yuanhong" has also been widely circulated. Although the specific case of "verification of virginity" only existed in the Song Dynasty, it was mentioned in the writings of Jin Dynasty as early as the Jin Dynasty. In many literary works, literati often make some delicate descriptions of "red test" when describing the wedding night. In some villages, in the past, the elders seemed to be very concerned about whether the daughter-in-law was a virgin, and often taught the man to use various methods to verify it. What they focus on is nothing more than whether the woman's hymen is ruptured, and the hymen is used to identify whether a woman has lost her virginity. Although the concept of loss of virginity has gradually faded in modern society, it cannot be said that it has disappeared in the minds of some people, especially men. Self-esteem and self-love are the most precious. Of course, young girls need to be self-respect and self-love, and don't casually have sex with people. But if it does inevitably happen, don't carry too much baggage. Sexual intercourse will certainly rupture the hymen, but not all hymen ruptures are caused by sexual intercourse. Vigorous exercise, vaginal medication, and some heavy physical labor can all cause hymen rupture. Childhood ignorance, the insertion of foreign objects into the vagina and masturbation, etc., will also rupture the hymen. Between the hymen and the virgin, and can not always draw the same sign. Hymen rupture and misbehavior should not be equated indiscriminately. But in general, most unmarried healthy women have intact hymen before they have sex, and will "see red" on their wedding night. After all, men who grew up in traditional Chinese culture have a hymen complex, so young girls must not easily have sex with others, and they must also protect themselves in daily life to avoid hymen rupture in abnormal circumstances. Besides, the existence of the hymen is also beneficial for preventing unclean things from entering the vagina. The hymen is a narrow membrane at the lower end of the vagina in humans and some apes. Can be destroyed by sexual intercourse and other reasons, leaving hymen scars (carunculae hymenales). The vagina originating from the Müllerian duct (fallopian tube in a broad sense) and the vaginal vestibule originating from the urogenital sinus are opened twice in the process of occurrence, so the lower half-opening membranous substance remains at the junction of the two - Hymen.
anatomical traits
The hymen is a tissue possessed by a variety of female animals, including African elephants, seals, lemurs, guinea pigs, and humans. The human hymen has a hole in the middle and is not completely closed. It is a layer of translucent connective tissue diaphragm that completely or partially covers the vaginal opening. The front and back sides of the membrane are pink and moist on the surface. few nerves.
In the center of the hymen, there is a small hole with a diameter of 1 to 1.5 cm, which is called "hymen hole" in medicine, through which the menstrual blood can be discharged from the body. The shape of this small hole varies from person to person. According to the shape of the opening, the hymen hole can be divided into circular, oval, annular, sieve, umbrella, lobulated, star, septal, and crescent. , half moon, lip and more than 30 kinds. only a small number of women are born without a hymen, while the other few women have no pores on the hymen, which is a kind of folk called "stone girl". The pathology is called hymen atresia. This condition makes women unable to discharge menstrual blood during menstruation, often during puberty. It is found that menstruation is late, accompanied by periodic pain in the lower abdomen, and the treatment is generally treated by hymenotomy.
The hymen needs to be exposed to the vulva to be seen, and it comes in a variety of shapes. Hymen scars form when the hymen ruptures.
developmental damage
The hymen appears, develops, and forms when the fetus is 3 to 4 months old. The shape and thickness of the hymen during puberty vary. Generally, the hymen of adolescents is small and thick. As the woman's body matures, the hymen will gradually become larger and thicker. Thin and fairly tough. The hymen of an adult woman is about 1 to 2 mm thick.
During the first sexual intercourse, the hymen is ruptured to form a tear and cause bleeding. Due to the different shapes of the hymen, the degree of rupture will vary greatly. The septum-shaped hymen with two holes bleeds more and is accompanied by severe pain. Lip hymen bleeding is minimal and almost painless. The thick and elastic umbrella-shaped hymen may not rupture at all.
After giving birth to the hymen, the hymen is further damaged as the fetus is delivered through the vagina. Sometimes only a few residual protrusions are left, called hymen scars. This change does not occur with a caesarean section.
and sexual ethics
In the past, men could not biologically ensure that the children of their spouses were their own offspring, so when choosing a mate (especially a long-term spouse, such as a wife), the certainty that the future children belonged to them must be taken into account. One of the strategies that men have evolved to face this problem is to pay more attention to chastity when choosing a mate and prefer women who have no experience of sexual intercourse. Simply put, try to avoid marrying women who might be pregnant with someone else's child.
The integrity of the hymen is generally considered to be the proof of a woman's premarital chastity, because it usually breaks and bleeds when a woman is pierced by a man's penis when she has sex for the first time, but a few are tough and remain intact after several sexual acts. There are even exceptional cases where it remains intact postpartum, while others (and are common) are partially broken before first sexual intercourse due to strenuous exercise, accident, or aggressive female masturbation. The phenomenon of first sexual intercourse without bleeding is more common. With the advancement of modern medicine, the hymen has also been repaired by surgical methods (usually low-cost gynecological minor surgery), which further weakens its integrity to prove whether the first sexual intercourse has occurred. Therefore, some regions further implement "circumcision" on women, including suturing the vulva and the labia of young girls between the ages of two and six. The labia are gradually cut by the husband's family when they are newly married, and the female vulva is cut open during childbirth, and then sutured.
Physiological structure
In fact, the hymen is not a layer of membrane in the literal sense, it is actually a thin, delicate piece of connective tissue in the shape of a ring-shaped fold. The normal hymen has pores, which can be annular, semicircular, sieve, etc., called hymen pores. The mucosal tissue of the hymen is rich in microvessels and nerve endings. Therefore, when the hymen ruptures, women often experience a small amount of vaginal bleeding, accompanied by pain.
When a virgin has sexual intercourse for the first time, when a male penis is inserted into a female vagina, it often bursts the hymen to form a crack. The cracks in the hymen are often multiple, extending radially from the center to the surrounding, because the direction of the male penis entering is generally downward. Therefore, the gap is deeper below both sides of the vaginal opening and can reach the base, which is called a complete rupture. Sometimes due to the man's excessive force during sexual intercourse, the nearby vaginal wall can also be lacerated. For women who have given birth, because the fetus is delivered through the vagina, the hymen is further damaged, and even incomplete everywhere, sometimes leaving only a few residual protrusions, called hymen scars. In the case of a caesarean section, the hymen remains in its married shape because the baby is delivered through an incision in the lower abdomen and not through the vagina.
main effect
Before puberty, the female reproductive organs are not yet fully developed, and the vaginal mucosa is weak and the acidity is low, so it cannot block the invasion of bacteria. At this time, the hymen is thicker, and it also takes on this important task and plays a role in protecting the female reproductive system.
After puberty, the female reproductive organs are gradually developed and perfected, and the vagina already has the effect of resisting bacterial invasion, while the hymen gradually becomes weak and loses this function. Therefore, for mature women, the hymen no longer has any physiological function.
The role of the hymen
Women will have menstruation after sexual maturity, and menstrual blood is excreted through the hymen hole. If there is no such hole in the hymen, menstrual blood cannot be smoothly excreted from the body. This phenomenon is medically called "hymen atresia". If menstrual blood accumulates in the vagina for a long time, it can flow upward into the uterine cavity, fallopian tubes, and even into the abdominal cavity, causing abdominal infection and abdominal pain.
How to know if the hymen is ruptured
Generally speaking, to judge whether the hymen is ruptured, it needs to be checked by a professional gynecologist. It is more difficult for women to determine whether the hymen is ruptured, even for men who have sex with them. Most men and women often use vaginal bleeding to judge whether a woman's hymen is ruptured. In fact, this method is unscientific, because in addition to this, there are many reasons for vaginal bleeding in women, such as vaginitis, uterine fibroids, etc. in women. Also, some women's hymens bleed very little when they rupture and don't necessarily flow out of the vagina
What are the causes of ruptured hymen
Because the hymen is close to the vaginal opening, a little carelessness will cause the hymen to rupture. There are many reasons for the rupture of the hymen. The most familiar one is that when a woman has sex for the first time, the hymen will rupture and bleed. In addition, in the following accidents, the hymen will also rupture and bleed. For example, some women can rupture the hymen when participating in strenuous sports such as high jumping, horse riding, and martial arts; while some women can cause hymen rupture when cleaning the genitals, using built-in tampons improperly, and even masturbating. Strenuous exercise, vaginal medication, and some heavy physical labor can all cause hymen rupture.
How to correctly view the relationship between the hymen and the virgin
The long-standing tradition holds that the hymen is the sign of a virgin, and the rupture of the hymen means that a woman is no longer a virgin. This is a very feudal thought, and it is very one-sided to define a virgin only by the rupture of the hymen. First of all, from the reasons for the rupture of the hymen described above, it is absolutely impossible to judge whether a woman is a virgin simply from the integrity of the hymen. Some women do not have sex, but the hymen ruptures due to some accidents. In addition, although some women's hymen is intact, they do have sex. This is because the hymen of these women is looser and the hymen hole is larger, so the hymen may not rupture after sexual intercourse. In short, the rupture of the hymen is not necessarily related to whether a woman has had sexual behavior, and it is even more impossible to judge whether a woman is a virgin based on the integrity of the hymen. The final definition of "virgin" should be - a woman who has never had sex with a man, that is, has never had a male sex organ in a woman's vagina.
Although there are many reasons for the rupture of the hymen, the main reason is still sexual intercourse. Therefore, girls should have a clear understanding of premarital sex.
The real role of the hymen
Like the hymen, there has never been a tissue or organ in the female body that has aroused so many eternal topics, and no organ like the hymen has staged a farce of life and death for the fate of human beings.
The hymen is part of the female reproductive organs. The hymen appears, develops and forms when the fetus is 3 to 4 months old, and the shape and thickness of the hymen at puberty are one. The pores can be in various shapes such as wheel-shaped, annular, half-moon-shaped, and sieve-shaped. It is a layer of mucosal tissue located in the vaginal opening and the vestibule of the vagina, in the shape of a ring-shaped fold, about 0.5 cm wide, with a hole in the middle to facilitate the flow of menstrual blood and secretions. only a very small number of women are born without a hymen, and only a very small number of women have no pores on their hymen, known as "stone women".
The hymen acts as a barrier for the external genitalia. From a physiological point of view, it is an obstacle to the life of both sexes and a barrier that prevents the penis from entering the vagina. This barrier may bring different degrees of pain to the woman from the perspective of physiological response. Some women experience prolonged pain during sexual intercourse due to hymen fragments. It should be said that the role of the hymen in sexual life is not good for the man, but it will bring some pain to the woman, and the hymen is not good for both husband and wife. In the sexual life, it may also pose a threat to the sexual physiology and sexual psychology of both men and women. If the "tenacious resistance" of the hymen makes the man "incapable of attacking for a long time", the man will ejaculate too quickly due to excessive excitement and tension. As a result, the man bears the burden of thought, which may become a cause of premature ejaculation in the future. In addition, if the woman is nervous and the man is too impatient or rude, in the case of first sexual intercourse, the woman may also have a certain amount of pain, which will leave a heavy psychological shadow on the woman, and some women will form a long time after marriage. Frigidity, vaginismus. Therefore, the emergence of sexual dysfunction in both men and women is not unrelated to the existence of the hymen.
With the development of human society today, the hymen of most mature women will be destroyed by the union of men and women, leaving only deformed fragments. In this way, from an evolutionary point of view, the hymen seems to be a redundant organ. Yet another of nature's "survival of the fittest" principles applies everywhere. "Use it or lose it" is also an important law of nature. Since the hymen has an adverse effect on the sexual life of both men and women, and will be broken sooner or later, why should it exist? That is, what is the function of the hymen?
After discussion, some scholars put forward the following two hypotheses:
1. Protect the female reproductive system: This theory holds that the hymen plays a protective role in the female reproductive system and even the body. It is a barrier to protect oneself and prevent the invasion of disease and evil. The hymen guards the vaginal doorway and prevents urine from entering the vagina. Ancient women did not have dresses, they at most had a piece of animal skin around their lower body, and the open lower body was easy to cause the invasion of bacteria. The vaginal wall of girls is relatively thin, and the ovaries are not fully developed. It depends on the hymen, the barrier, to protect the internal reproductive system and protect women's fertility. Some scholars believe that before the age of 16 to 18, women's bodies are not fully developed, and the hymen is very thick, which is a warning device to avoid premature sexual life. For women, having sex too early can easily lead to cervical cancer due to repeated infection of the cervix. Moreover, starting sexual life too early will also have adverse effects on prenatal and postnatal care. The hymen just plays such a preventive role. Because for men, to have sex with immature girls, it is difficult to overcome the still very tough hymen line of defense. For women, premature sex life will bring considerable spasms to their bodies. According to the survey of medical scientists, when the hymen is breached, more than 2/3 will feel pain, accompanied by bleeding. The earlier you get married, the more obvious this phenomenon is.
Overview
The shape of the hymen is annular, umbrella-shaped, lip-shaped, sieve-shaped, etc., and its thickness, toughness, shape, etc. vary from person to person. Some women's hymen has good toughness and large pores. Even if there is a history of sexual intercourse, it can be intact. However, some women's hymen is thin and has poor toughness, which can be ruptured due to more strenuous exercise such as running, jumping, trauma, etc. Therefore, it is impossible to verify whether women have sexual behavior based on whether the hymen is damaged.
The hymen is a thin layer of tissue outside the vaginal opening of women. It consists of microvessels, nerve endings and connective tissue. There is a small hole in the middle, which is the hymen hole. The shape of the hymen is annular, umbrella-shaped, lip-shaped, sieve-shaped, etc., and its thickness, toughness, shape, etc. vary from person to person. Some women's hymen has good toughness and large pores. Even if there is a history of sexual intercourse, it can be intact. However, some women's hymen is thin and has poor toughness, which can be ruptured due to more strenuous exercise such as running, jumping, trauma, etc. Therefore, it is impossible to verify whether women have sexual behavior based on whether the hymen is damaged.
The hymen is located at the vaginal opening, which is a layer of membranous tissue at the vaginal opening of women, with holes in the middle for the outflow of menstrual blood. The hymen is what women have after birth or when the embryo develops in the mother's womb, rather than "after puberty" as some people think. Of all the species in nature, only human females have it. Exactly why human women have a hymen, and what is the function of the hymen, is still an unsolved mystery. However, due to the oppression of women by feudalism, the hymen has become the central focus of the virginity complex.
In fact, the hymen has nothing to do with being a virgin. Because the shape and thickness of each woman's hymen are different, after experiencing sexual life, the hymen may not rupture, or even if it has ruptured, it may not bleed, and a very small number of women are born without a hymen. In addition, during adolescence or adolescence, some women have already ruptured the hymen due to the large movement of their legs, and some women who have no sex life have their hymen ruptured due to fingers or objects entering the vagina during masturbation. Other factors that lead to hymen rupture have nothing to do with being a virgin. On the contrary, some women's hymens are so tough that they even go through multiple sex lives without breaking until they need to be surgically incised before giving birth. How can this be measured in terms of the concept of virginity?
research history
Shougongsha is a symbol used in ancient China to test whether a woman is sexually active. The earliest record of Shougongsha appeared in the "Natural History" written by Zhang Hua of the Jin Dynasty, but there is no scientific basis.
The Qing Dynasty notebook "Chongming Manlu" describes a young girl riding on the handle of a hoe, causing the hymen to rupture and blood flow on the handle of the hoe. When an old man saw it, he put the hoe away. Later, when the girl got married, the wedding night was not yet red, and she was mistaken for infidelity. The husband intends to divorce the bride. The old man arrived with a hoe and wronged his bride Zhaoxue.
