To Virgin or not to Virgin, that is the question…

I want to know. I'm wondering about virginity in contemporary romance. There are reasons, yes, of course…the primary reason being a woman's desire to remain a virgin until marriage or a commitment to one partner. I suppose a secondary and somewhat suspect reason is simply lack of opportunity or time – ala Karen Marie Moning's Highlander romances. Her heroines want to have sex, are indeed, very interested in having sex, but their priorities lie elsewhere – their career, their education, their ability to see gorgeous fae males…

I haven't written a contemporary with a virgin heroine. To be honest, the thought hasn't crossed my mind. Well, it's crossed my mind but not in a serious way.

In Daughters of Persephone, my heroines are virgins. Sex involves a sharing of the blood and once the women share their royal blood, they are bonded to a man for life, so sex means a life-long commitment. It's as good a reason as any to remain a virgin.

I'm never surprised to find virgin heroines in historical romances – while I don't believe that all women who entered into a committed relationship were virgins, I do believe virginity was sort of expected and valued, in particular among the upper class. I associate virginity with the Bible, Vestal Virgins, the Victorian Era, and the 1950s, but not with the Roaring Twenties, the '60s, or the medieval world. Even handfasting, common in Scottish romances, was considered a trial marriage and either party could walk away if things didn't work out.

I recently read two articles about virgins in romances – one claimed that one single word included in a title will sell a book – the word virgin. The other article was by a reader who said nothing bothers her more than a virgin heroine who gives up her virginity to someone other than her ultimate love interest, i.e, the ultimate protagonist. I think that's what got me asking myself the question – how much value do I put on virginity when I read romance? I guess for me the answer is little to none, unless the situation realistically requires virginity. I find the dichotomy interesting. We live in a society that uses sex to sell just about everything, but the word 'virgin' will sell a book.

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