Comments on: Hymen, I hardly knew ya

By: Kallisti

Kallisti — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:58:28 +0000

Carmen – It doesn’t come from the Greek for “membrane”, it comes from Hymen, the Greek goddess of marriage and virginity. “Hymen” is slang for virginity in Ancient Greek, making its use as a medical term both unprofessional AND sexist.

/working on Classics degree focussing on attitudes towards women.

By: hbsweet

hbsweet — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 03:42:52 +0000

I thought of the astronomical corona, too: the purity balls’ theme could be “The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Twat.”

By: norbizness

norbizness — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:56:31 +0000

Does this mean that the theme song for purity balls will be The Knack’s “My Corona”?

By: Alison

Alison — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:20:23 +0000

Tlönista, Love it!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:28:26 +0000

I think I’m going to need a lime with that.

By: Tlönista

Tlönista — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:01:01 +0000

@Sara: Now I want a T-shirt with the slogan “When I was your age, Pluto was a planet, and the vaginal corona was the hymen.”

By: AJD

AJD — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:39:19 +0000

I—

Weird. I always thought the word hymen came from the name of the Greek god of marriage—which is Hymen. But apparently it comes from the Greek word for ‘membrane’, as Carmen says.

By: rj

rj — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:49:15 +0000

Ask the guy who coined the term “freedom fries” about how hard it is to change the language by proclamation or campaign. What you call it is secondary to what connotations the word has – ignore this simple maxim and you’ll find yourself completely unintelligible (and thus irrelevant) to the average person.

By: Angiportus

Angiportus — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:06:48 +0000

I really don’t much care what they call it, just so folks quit thinking it’s okay to damage it just to make it fit someone else’s anatomy. I almost dare to hope that this change will help in the struggle for the right to physical integrity, and the right not to be hurt, of all humans. That’s more basic, more important, than what name, or how many names, any specific part has. Still it is good to examine our feelings/connotations about the words we hear, and might not have ever thought to question.
I too, when hearing the term”corona”, think first of astronomy. And I’m glad that the medical industry hasn’t succeede in hogging all the highfalutin Classically-derived words.

By: ACG

ACG — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 22:45:47 +0000

I kind of like the idea that I have a crown in my ladybits. “I dub thee Sir Thundersword von Stevedore. Now take off your clothes and service me, peon.”

Carmen – For me, calling it a “membrane” calls to mind the traditional concept of the hymen as some delicate piece of tissue that’s broken when a woman loses her flower, never to be repaired again. It’s the “barrier” that romance-novel pirates always run up against when they bed the unsullied virgin that makes her wince and cry a single crystalline tear. A “vaginal corona” seems like what it is – folds of tissue that are always there, even after we’re ravished by the pirate, that surround the vagina.