Saving Sex for Marriage: An Analysis of Lay Attitudes Towards Virginity and its Perceived Benefit for Marriage
Saving Sex for Marriage: An Analysis of Lay Attitudes Towards Virginity and its Perceived Benefit for Marriage
How do young people interpret virginity loss, and does saving sex for marriage have any socially constructed benefit for marriage? This study answers this question using data obtained from a peer-led Facebook group with more than 175,000 participants, mostly in African countries, particularly Nigeria. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze 100 public wall posts and 3860 comments posted on the group between June 2018 and May 2019. Four distinctive interpretations of virginity loss comprising the gift, precondition, stigma, and process emerged from the data. These interpretations were also gendered, such that a woman’s virginity was interpreted as a gift but a stigma for men. The wall posts and comments further suggest that saving sex for marriage may have some culturally sensitive benefits, including trust, and marital sexual satisfaction. Altogether the findings expand the current understanding of the diverse perceived benefits of virginity that move beyond honour and respect to more complex benefits like trust in a union, sexual satisfaction and ultimate satisfaction in marriage.
Africa, Facebook, Marital satisfaction, Sexual abstinence, Social media, Virginity, Women’s health
568-594
Olamijuwon, Emmanuel
e5692fe5-2a86-409d-90b2-7e6001d20fba
Odimegwu, Clifford
aafcb135-db98-4531-b310-6fd89c085077
April 2022
Olamijuwon, Emmanuel
e5692fe5-2a86-409d-90b2-7e6001d20fba
Odimegwu, Clifford
aafcb135-db98-4531-b310-6fd89c085077
Olamijuwon, Emmanuel and Odimegwu, Clifford
(2022)
Saving Sex for Marriage: An Analysis of Lay Attitudes Towards Virginity and its Perceived Benefit for Marriage.
Sexuality and Culture, 26 (2), .
(doi:10.1007/s12119-021-09909-7).
Abstract
How do young people interpret virginity loss, and does saving sex for marriage have any socially constructed benefit for marriage? This study answers this question using data obtained from a peer-led Facebook group with more than 175,000 participants, mostly in African countries, particularly Nigeria. A reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze 100 public wall posts and 3860 comments posted on the group between June 2018 and May 2019. Four distinctive interpretations of virginity loss comprising the gift, precondition, stigma, and process emerged from the data. These interpretations were also gendered, such that a woman’s virginity was interpreted as a gift but a stigma for men. The wall posts and comments further suggest that saving sex for marriage may have some culturally sensitive benefits, including trust, and marital sexual satisfaction. Altogether the findings expand the current understanding of the diverse perceived benefits of virginity that move beyond honour and respect to more complex benefits like trust in a union, sexual satisfaction and ultimate satisfaction in marriage.
Text
s12119-021-09909-7
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Published date: April 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
EO acknowledges funding support from the Southern Africa Systems Analysis Centre, National Research Foundation, South Africa, and the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. The paper is extracted from a Doctoral dissertation held by the University of the Witwatersrand.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
Keywords:
Africa, Facebook, Marital satisfaction, Sexual abstinence, Social media, Virginity, Women’s health
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Local EPrints ID: 469033
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/469033
ISSN: 1095-5143
PURE UUID: 7342a6e8-0390-42f8-bbbf-c41804c44b5c
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Date deposited: 05 Sep 2022 16:56
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:05
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Author:
Emmanuel Olamijuwon
Author:
Clifford Odimegwu
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