The Hymen

[kragey.livejournal.com]

Hate to double post, but I felt like this was worth it!

I always see my fellow VagPag women asking about the hymen. What does it look like? Is it normal if it's not like my sister's? Where is the hymen located? While browsing Rotten.com, I found this EXTREMELY interesting and informative page about the hymen. You may also want to check out the rest of their library. (Please note that a few of the things said here are the opinions of the writer, including what exactly CAN break a hymen...some doctors say things like horseback riding can break a hymen, others say it can't.)

(On a side note: mine is a cribriform, but it only has one or two tiny holes and a self-inflicted "puncture wound" towards the bottom.)

Comments

[paix.livejournal.com]

that's the most thorough article i've ever read about the hymen!

[mays-rays.livejournal.com]

That was really interesting!

I'm kind of confused though -- I'm most assuredly not a virgin anymore, and I'm pretty sure that my hymen was long gone by the time my first experience came along (horseback riding, dancing, tampons, etc). If it wasn't, then it definitely is by now. But I still have something that looks a lot like what that very first picture is pointing to and labeling as a hymen. I've always assumed that this was normal, and that this would stick around for the rest of my life. But then that clinical drawing of the Parous Introitus, of someone who's given childbirth, doesn't show anything like that.

So what does that mean? Does that little doodad normally go away after the hymen is broken, does it go away after childbirth, or is the drawing inaccurate? Or are we all different in this, as we are in so many other ways?

[tealight-rookie.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of like you... But I have read that the bit of the hymen that remains can get kind of stretchy, therefore allowing penetration.

I think you're right in saying that we're all just different... I actually got my GP to check me out & was assured that everything was perfectly normal.

[mays-rays.livejournal.com]

Well, my gyno and nurse practitioner have never mentioned anything to me, so I assume all's well in that department. ;) I'm just curious if that little doodad will go away completely when/if I ever give birth to a child. Cuz I actually kind of like it, I think it's cute. ^_^ One could even say that I'm *attached* to it...

((harharhar, early morning pre-coffee humor!)) XD

[kragey.livejournal.com]

It is DEFINITELY possible to break it through activity, as my friends have felt it before. I believe their point is that, just because you don't feel any pain, that doesn't mean you DID break your hymen that way.

[mays-rays.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, definitely. I'm just wondering if the little doodad, the remnants of the hymen, go away completely after childbirth like that one medical drawing of the Parous Introitus seemed to indicate, or if they normally go away once the hymen has been broken. It was interesting that there were pictures of unbroken hymens, and a picture of a vagina that had seen childbirth, but no vaginas in-between, ie a vagina with a broken hymen that hasn't had a child yet.

[kragey.livejournal.com]

I don't think the hymen can stretch enough to allow a baby through it. My thought was always that, by the time you had a baby, your body's thought process was that you didn't a hymen to protect the vaginal passage anymore. (Or something like that...I didn't pay much attention in biology.)

[shescreamed.livejournal.com]

yes thank you for posting it. Everyone claims I'm lying when I insist I never bled or felt pain from my hymen breaking. Now I can proving them wrong.

[moochar.livejournal.com]

I never had any problem either, just a slight stinging feeling for a few seconds. I remember after telling my best friend about it she said something like, "Well I guess thats what you get for using tampons!" I really wasn't sure how to take it...I guess I should have hoped for a bad expierence?

[mays-rays.livejournal.com]

o_O Frankly, I'm glad that I felt no pain and had no bleeding the first time around! Seems to me that all girls would hope for a painless, bloodless, experience, ya know? But then, I'm a complete wuss about pain...I actually fainted when I had the cartiledge in my ear pierced.

[moochar.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know exactly how you feel. I was scared to death it would be awful because everyone always said it was awful. It was always seen as an awful expierence, but mine was pretty, well, great. Had a sting for a second, not a single drop of blood. I did feel a "pop" kind of feeling, so did he, but that was it. I'm still happy it wasn't bad, otherwise I would have been traumatized. lol

[fshk.livejournal.com]

I've been convinced for a little while now (basically since starting to read this community) that I never had a hymen. I also never bled or felt pain and have no idea when it broke, but it's certainly not there anymore. Did it ever exist? I've heard it's possible to be born without one.

[shescreamed.livejournal.com]

I think maybe we both could have had one it just is more elastic perhaps? Or wider?

Or maybe I streched mine out from tampon usage, I don't know.

[kragey.livejournal.com]

It is possible to be born without one or to have it be so thin it just breaks on birth, but that's very rare. You might just be a rarity, missy! =D

[puttysan.livejournal.com]

I just have to say, I've read the Rotten library for years now, and have directed people to articles more times than I can think of. Their whole library is AWESOME.

[kragey.livejournal.com]

The Max Hardcore page cracks me up every time.

[tealight-rookie.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for posting that - very, very interesting. :)

[punk-is-so-dead.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting!

[lacrimose.livejournal.com]

Question: What the hell is the purpose of the hymen?

[ilikemytie.livejournal.com]

it's an "uh oh" of sorts! I'd hate to say that, but when a female is born, it's just an orifice that didn't open up all the way in the womb. Lucky it was the vagina and not something like our nose!

If anyone has a better way of wording an answer about our accidental membrane, feel free!

[kragey.livejournal.com]

I always assumed that the hymen helped to protect the vaginal canal until you were "ready" to give birth to babies, but that's an interesting idea, too.

[ilikemytie.livejournal.com]

from what I have read, it's a genetic flaw.

[kragey.livejournal.com]

Personally, I never liked to think of it as a flaw. I always thought we just sort of "lost our use" for it.

Take our jacobson's organ. It's located up in the top of the mouth and used to be fully functional in humans--cats have them, too. It's still there, but we can no longer smell with it and it's therefore useless. My guess is that we haven't evolved enough to start being born without it.

Instead of making a new post, here's a few more hymen pages!

[kragey.livejournal.com]

WARNING: none of these links should be considered work safe, as some show pictures of the vagina and hymens.

http://www.healthystrokes.com/hymengallery.html
http://www.realsexedfacts.com/femalesexualhealth.htm#32455812
http://www.info-pedia.net/about/hymen/
http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3329.htm
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/sexinfo/?article=teensex&refid=003
http://www.bartleby.com/107/270.html
http://www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_hl_dorlands.jspzQzpgzEzzSzppdocszSzuszSzcommonzSzdorlandszSzdorlandzSzdmd_h_18zPzhtm
http://www.the-clitoris.com/f_html/hymen.htm
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20010301/883.html