From a sociological perspective, men generally wish that their wives are virgins and people often use the hymen to verify this. It is commonly believed that the bride will bleed during her first night of intercourse if she is a virgin. This has led to the development of an industry in the modern society around restoring hymens.
However, is it true that every woman has a hymen? Unfortunately, the answer is no. It is unfair to some unfortunate women. In fact, there are some women who are born without hymens while others have theirs accidentally damaged due to non-sexual activities; and then there are also some few women who have intact hymens but with no openings, which makes penetration impossible for males – these women are known as “stone maidens”. Fortunately, modern medicine now allows for “punching” surgeries, otherwise long-term accumulation of blood would be unbearable for them.
Is the presence of hymens completely useless? Ignoring distant relatives in animals, scientists researching close relatives chimpanzees did not find any structure similar to human hymen. It is strange indeed. From a utilitarian point of view, it seems that the hymens don’t serve any obvious purpose – they are not more useful than appendix or tonsils. Some researchers even regarded them as congenital defects which do not benefit humans at all; instead, they can impede sexual intercourse and further inhibit human reproduction.
Many women experience pain when having sex – this could be attributed to the presence of leftover hymen fragments which get stimulated during intercourse and cause pain for women. However, these fragments gradually disappear with increased amount of sex.
Is the presence of hymen a result of sexual selection? The principle of usage or loss applies in evolutionary theory greatly. In sexual life especially, not only does it cause pain but also brings negative psychological effects on both parties involved due to its unpleasantness; this leads to female frigidity and male impotence… So what’s its purpose then?
Although evidence isn’t sufficient yet but researchers believe it was formed by sexual selection: on one hand prehistoric male ancestors had inclination towards selecting wives who were still virgins so as to increase their own chance in genealogy; thus those females with intact hymens got more chances in surviving while passing down this membrane; on the other hand females could use this barrier to select stronger males so quality sperm would enter into their cervix since sexual activities were wild and free back then and could prevent weak old sick men from preying upon young girls because before 18 years old their bodies weren’t mature enough yet so their hymens were comparatively thicker – this served as a warning against premature sex life