# What's the purpose of the hymen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 13, 2007, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-the-hymen/387781 "2007-01-13T01:26:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2013, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-the-hymen/387781/41 "2013-04-26T03:21:39Z")
> [@Powers](#): > > He’s talking, I believe, about “Dear Doctor”, in which the crew encounters a planet with two sentient species, one advanced and dominant and the other less advanced and subservient. The crew is asked to assist the dominant species with a pandemic that is killing them, and Doctor Phlox discovers that the cause is genetic. The dominant species is fated to die out, allowing the subservient species to become the dominant life form on the planet. > > Archer wants to help, but Phlox espouses a prototype version of the Prime Directive, which suggests that curing the epidemic would unfairly interfere with the natural development of the planet’s biome. Phlox’s argument holds sway, and the crew provides medical help to alleviate the suffering of the dying, but does not provide a cure. > > This is not “genocide” as the term is normally understood, but certainly there’s a strong argument that it’s unethical and cruel. That’s the whole point of the episode – that there’s no easy answer, and that the moral underpinnings that govern our life on Earth may need to give way to even greater imperatives once we encounter extra-terrestrial life. > > It pains the characters deeply to make this decision, because it goes against everything they know about compassion and respect for life. But in the end they are held to an even greater moral precept, that each planet is unique, and its people must be the ones to determine that planet’s path without interference from without. > Powers &8^] That, in itself, was idiotic and morally revolting fanservice, what with the line of reasoning explicitly stated by Archer actually boiling down to, “Someday, perhaps there will be a United Federation of Planets, and perhaps they will have a Prime Directive on this subject, so I’ll just assume that it’s in place now.” But what I am talking about is not that, but the clear assumption that evolution has intentions and makes plans—has free will, if you like—which effectively defines Evolution as a god. Which is why it is relevant here. ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-the-hymen/387781/42 "2013-04-30T00:07:48Z")
> [@colander](#): > > Your summary of a Star Wars novel or whatever all that is up there is about as irrelevant to the topic of female anatomy as I think anything can ever be. If you have a problem with me fighting ignorance on the topic – particularly when someone explicitly expressed an absence of knowledge – then you’re in the wrong forum. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-the-hymen/387781/43 "2013-04-30T00:12:39Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > That, in itself, was idiotic and morally revolting fanservice, what with the line of reasoning explicitly stated by Archer actually boiling down to, “Someday, perhaps there will be a United Federation of Planets, and perhaps they will have a Prime Directive on this subject, so I’ll just assume that it’s in place now.” > > But what I am talking about is not that, but the clear assumption that evolution has intentions and makes plans—has free will, if you like—which effectively defines Evolution as a god. Which is why it is relevant here. Fanservice, perhaps, but morally revolting? Perhaps your morality could use some updating. As I said, it’s a legitimate argument. You can disagree with the conclusion, but I don’t think it’s fair to just dismiss the possibility of argument out of hand. As for the “assumption” you mention, I don’t see it. The reason for the non-interference directive has nothing to do with a notion that evolution is directed. It springs from an understanding that tampering with the natural progression of a biome is a task fraught with pitfalls and the potential for grave errors. If the inhabitants of that biome request the outside help, then it’s no longer tampering, I suppose. But the situation here with two sentient species was more complex. Powers &8^] ---
**Author:** ![colander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@colander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colander)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-the-hymen/387781/44 "2013-04-30T02:03:35Z")
> [@Powers](#): > > If you have a problem with me fighting ignorance on the topic – particularly when someone explicitly expressed an absence of knowledge – then you’re in the wrong forum. > Powers &8^] Let me be frank: _I don’t care_ about your favorite TV shows and your post made my uterus shrivel and die. It was awful. Take your off-topic TV “sci-fi” discussion to Cafe Society, because this thread is for talking about _vaginas_. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-the-hymen/387781/45 "2013-04-30T13:57:37Z")
MODERATOR INTERVENETH: Hey, this is a discussion about the purpose (or lack thereof) of the hymen. While a side comment about a TV show may be vaguely relevant to the discussion at hand, additional lengthy comments are simply a distraction – not to say a tangent or a hijack. If you want to discuss STAR WARS or STAR TREK episodes, the proper forum is Cafe Society, and feel free to start a new thread. Any further posts on that topic in this thread will be considered hijack and treated accordingly. (I will allow a single post with a link to the new thread in Cafe Society, if such is started.) ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-the-hymen/387781/46 "2013-04-30T21:32:15Z")
I did business with the hymen, I respect the hymen… but I never _trusted_ the hymen! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-purpose-of-the-hymen/387781.md?page=2)