This TED Talk features sex educators Nina Dolvik Brockman and Ellen Stokindahl, recorded live at TEDx Oslo, 2017.

We grew up believing that the hymen is the proof of virginity. But it turns out we were wrong.

What we discovered is that the popular story we're told about female virginity is based on two

anatomical myths.

The truth has been known in medical communities for over 100 years, yet somehow these two myths continue to make life difficult

for women around the world.

The first myth is about blood.

It tells us that the hymen breaks and bleeds

the first time a woman has vaginal sex.

In other words, if there is no blood on the sheets afterwards, then the woman was simply not

a virgin.

The second myth is a logical consequence of the first.

Since the hymen is thought to break and bleed, people also

believe that it actually disappears or is in some way radically altered during a woman's first

intercourse. If that were true, one would easily be able to determine if a woman is a virgin or not by examining her genitals, by doing a virginity check.

So that's our two myths. Virgins bleed and hymins are lost forever. forever now this may sound like a minor issue to you why should

you care about an obscure little skinfold on the female body but the truth is this is about so much

more than an anatomical misunderstanding.

The myths about the hymen have lived on for centuries because they have cultural significance.

They have been used as a powerful tool in the effort to control women's sexuality in about every culture, religion and historical decade.

Women are still mistrusted, shamed, harmed,

and in the worst cases, subjected to honor killings

...