- The hymen isn’t completely closed, it has a hole.
- Sometimes the hymen gets torn anyway during other activities (not necessarily sexual, just vigorous physical activity.)
- … women, help me out here! (I suspect that sometimes it does tear things a little.)
You must be dropping some magnificent deuces. My lady products stay in place, even during #2.
Edit: astrob, yes they can. My cite is having used them when I was a virgin.
The hymen is VERY over-rated. I find men are especially fascinated by it. It can be broken as a child, tampon insertion, scratching, whatever.
It’s not some big bloody chasity skin flap waiting for ceremonious breaking open upon virginal sex. And it’s never closed entirely over the vag opening. Some people don’t even have one. Some may bleed a bit, some not at all.
It’s really not that big of a deal.
Originally Posted by AClockworkMelon
"I feel like a British zoologist observing another species with a pair of binoculars from the back of a jeep. "
Props to you guys for being genuinely interested. The lady parts are puzzling indeed.
Let me take this opportunity – because it’s come up before on this board – to remind those who need to know that the hymen is an external piece of tissue partly covering the opening to the vaginal canal. It is not inside the vagina. Okay, carry on. 
Not because I don’t know this, because of COURSE I know… but in case… you know… someone ELSE didn’t know…
… so the vagina ISN’T what you call the entire thing down there?
The vagina is just the opening/canal. It’s internal. You refer to the whole thing as the vulva.
I hated the waste (back when I used tampons), but even more I hated those applicator-less tampons which felt like dry sponges scraping up the sides of my vagina on insertion, and which I could pretty much always feel when they were in, unless I used a size that was not absorbent enough, in which case they didn’t do the job adequately.
Now I used Glad Rags[sub]TM[/sub]!
The vagina is the internal, muscular passage leading from the cervix to the outside world. The correct term for the visible outside parts (both sets of labia, clitoris) is ‘vulva’.
Yep. You might want to keep a pad in place “just in case” as you get used to using the things… or even once you’re used to it, keep the pad in place for heavy days.
Yeah–I do that on my heavier days as well in case I leak through the tampon before I get a chance to change it.
I can push a tampon out most of the way just by pushing - yes, I have awesome lady bits
For our ‘zoologists’ and new tampon users - I didn’t learn for a really long time (and providing of course all tampons are labeled in a similar way) that junior, regular, and super plus means to address flow, not the size of your passage.
Also, if you have a tipped uterus it can require a different angle than the pictures show. I also find trimming the string keeps it from migrating to less clean places down there and it doesn’t end up becoming a wick, if you know what I mean.
I’m almost afraid to ask…
Sometimes they fall over? :eek:
Always be sure to tip your uterus.
Yes, but only if they’ve been drinking.
Maybe it should be called a tipsy uterus.
I’ve heard that there is a medical condition where the hymen does indeed close off the whole vaginal canal. (I’m not googling for it at work.) This is bad because it’s just not supposed to be sealed up. So if a baby girl has that, they just open it up.
Try the veal flaps.
How, um, strong is the hymen? None of the girls I’ve dated have been virgins (or otherwise had intact hymens). How hard is it to break through?
I’m aware that I probably sound like a complete 'tard in this thread, yes. Lol, I really am investigating from the back of a jeep.
Handy pic:
http://www.riversideonline.com/source/images/image_popup/ans7_tipped_uterus.jpg
About 20% of women have it.
I had this.