Like A Virgin

I’m sorry God, but I don’t believe in the virgin birth or the miraculous conception. I also have concerns that the story itself forms unrealistic views on women in the modern era that limits the attempt at gender and sexual equality. As I’ve written previously, there are scientific reasons to deny the story of a male being able to be conceived without the presence of sperm. Anyway, my Virgin Mary issues aren’t really concerned with the apparent spiritual conception or speculations. I have issues about the virgin aspect on another level and it relates to modern females. 

Women seek gender equality in the Western world in employment, relationships, sexuality, shared home duties, pay rates, etc. It’s the year 2016 and women have still not achieved equality with men. The last fifty years have not accomplished too much for the gender equal movement at all. Women remain employed in female-dominated industries like nursing and childcare that are relatively lowly paid compared to fields dominated by male employment. In households, females remain largely responsible for the bulk of home duties in comparison to their male counterparts. Females are frequently termed “sluts” or “whores”, although males do not contend with such sexual labels. 

So Mary was a virgin, impregnated by a source, and there is implied holiness in this incident expressed via the Bible verses telling the story. Annually, at Christmas time, we hear of Mary’s virtue and her virgin birth. Religion, both Christian and Islam, seem to link virginity with purity. As the Virgin Mary is held in such high regard, particularly by the Catholic Church, the fallacy of purity in women is further extolled. This is not fair to the females who cannot retain their virginity in the pursuit of things like, oh I don’t know, continuing the existence of the human race.  It is not fair to the females who’ve experienced their virginity being taken from them without permission. It is not fair to the females who live an honourable life with a healthy appetite for sex. It is not fair to females.

This sanctimonious view of female virginity does a lot of damage in the modern era. It only perpetuates the long-held male dominated view of sexual relationships; women are sullied and tarnished by intercourse, yet men are immune from such measurements of virtues. It puts virginity on a pedestal. It allows males to be judgemental of women’s sexuality. Virginity can’t be restored, so it’s unrealistic to hold it as the benchmark of purity. After all, I’m sure Virgin Mary was not Virgin Mary for very long. 

There is absolutely no reason to imply that a woman is somehow compromised in character, while a man is not, simply by performing a natural act designed to maintain the species. I can now understand why Madonna satirised the Virgin Mary in a bid to model sexual equality for women. Like her or hate her, Madonna was rebelliously calling out an inequality in her Catholic upbringing. I would extend that criticism of inequality to all of Christianity and Islam alike. Sex isn’t dirty to women. Sex is a natural part of being human.  Sex is a natural part of earthly existence. 

It’s time religion resisted upholding unrealistic and ideological views of women. It is damaging to the modern day life of a female. Christianity and Islam particularly detract from the pursuit of gender equality and hampers a woman’s ability to love herself without sexual judgement.