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I wish Hanne Blank had added her works cited in footnotes throughout the text instead of only including a selected bibliography at the end. I don‘t like reading through a book and wondering “Where did you get that information?”

A book discussing virginity is long overdue, though, and I appreciate Blank‘s efforts to compile an accessible survey of the topic(s) covered.

I wanted to like this book but 3 months to get only 41% in should have been a sign. I really enjoyed the first part. Anatomy. Loved it. The part where it took an historical POV, and I hit a brick wall. I feel like it‘s a topic that everyone should read, so maybe it was just the presentation of the topic that didn‘t agree with me. I‘m sad. I was really looking forward to this one. ⭐️ #dnf

This book had two speeds: one was really surprising and the other was pretty informative, but about stuff I already had knowledge of. I would highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in gender studies.

"These tales were so influential that when some white European visited with Amerind tribes and did not find themselves the recipients of the sort of hot ... action promised by accounts like Beverley's, they reacted quite peevishly at not receiving what they obviously thought was their due."

Despite what some people appear to think, defining virginity is not merely a philosophical exercise. It is an exercise in controlling how people behave, feel, and think, and in some cases, whether they live or die. - pg. 9