Okay, a question has been asked amongst my friends, and no one seems to know the answer: What is the physiological purpose of the hymen? The physiological purpose of the hymen is one of the eternal mysteries of women's bodies. Although it doesn't seem to have a specific function, it's thought that hymen tissue remains as a vestige of vaginal development. Embryologically, it tended to keep germs and dirt out of the vagina. In infants and children, the hymen can serve a protective purpose by helping to prevent things from being pushed into the vagina; sometimes, a damaged hymen is looked at as an indicator of abuse and incest.

2. Hymens vary a lot in how they look


How do you know if your hymen is broken?
The hymen is the stuff of legend and lore in many cultures, the treasured prize a woman gives her husband on their wedding night. People often do not know what it looks like or what really happens to it when virginity is lost. For example, some of my teen patients have questions about a partner male or female inserting a finger into a vagina.
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This small skinfold is often regarded as an indicator of virginity across cultures. However, the gap between medical knowledge of the hymen and our cultural interpretation of its role is vast. This article is also available in Spanish. Coming from the Greek word meaning membrane, the hymen is a small piece of skin found inside the opening of the vagina. Contrary to its name, the hymen is not a complete membrane covering the full vaginal opening. After all, menstrual blood can pass through the vagina before we have had penetrative sex for the first time. However, for most of us, the hymen is shaped more like a donut with a hole or in some cases, several holes.
A friend is trying to figure out what became of her hymen. Several other women I know women brought up in the s, s and s in the United States, the Middle East, the UK and Ireland tell me similar stories: they heard about the hymen in school and in books, but as they progressed through their teens — getting their periods; masturbating; or experiencing penetrative sex for the first time — it often failed to present itself in the way that they had imagined. However, not one of the women I speak to actually confirms ever having encountered her own hymen in the way she would describe it. Imagine the vagina as a ring, she says, and in most women, the lower part has a crescent — the hymen — partially occluding it. In some cases, the hymen will not be crescent-shaped but will be ring-shaped, too, a circle of tissue sitting just inside the vagina. A lot of women describe their hymen as a sort of seal, like a piece of translucent sheeting that protects the opening of the vagina. Others will have a ring shape.