Okay, this may have been asked before, but I searched the last two years worth of threads and couldn’t find an answer, so here’s my question:
Why (evolutionarily speaking) are some virgins so hard to “de-flower”? Having witnessed the time and pain a few women have experienced (and yes, I was patient through the days and nights, but it was still painful for them), it seems that less evolved female animals might associate sex and pain, therefore not want to reproduce.
Cecil addresses it a bit here:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_226.html
No satisfying answer, looks like. But, scanning the article, I see this:
So I wonder if the hymen is vestigal of the “Aquatic Ape?”
Not likely, since, as Cecil says, “[The hymen] occurs in horses, whales, moles, mole-rats, hyenas, and perhaps other animals.”
Pain associated with reproduction does not seem to be much of a deterant. The reproductive urge is quite a bit stronger than any desire to avoid pain. If I had to guess on a possible adaptive purpose for the hymen, I would say that it is used to keep infectious nasties out of the vaginas of young females, whose immune systems may not be fully developed.
What type of infectious agents are you positing, Dr. Lao? It’s surely no shield against coliform bacteria and candida albicans, which migrate up and enter from the anus quite easily, hymen or no hymen. Ditto klebsiella and proteus, along with staph (both epi and aureus). And it certainly wouldn’t stop the introduction of gonorrhea, chlamydia, trichomonas, or any spirochete.
I misdoubt the hymen has any anti-infective role.
QtM
Well, maybe not the germs themselves, but perhaps the marcoscopic particles which they can be found on in large numbers: dirt, feces, etc.
Well, before we consider whether or not it represents an adaptation to a niche, we should ask if it is even hereditary.
Although I suppose it’s safe to say that if your mom was incapable of being deflowered, you probably won’t be either…