The concept of virginity usually involves moral or religious issues and can have consequences in terms of social status and in interpersonal relationships. Like chastity, the concept of virginity has traditionally involved sexual abstinence. There are cultural and religious traditions that place special value and significance on this state, predominantly towards unmarried females, associated with notions of personal purity, honor, and worth. Heterosexual individuals may or may not consider loss of virginity to occur only through penile-vaginal penetration, while people of other sexual orientations often include oral sex, anal sex, or mutual masturbation in their definitions of losing one's virginity. The term virgin originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern and ethical concepts. Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. White has traditionally been associated with ritual purity, innocence and virginity in Western cultures.
Youth by French painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau.
