Comments on: V is for Virgin (Alphabet b-sides and rarities) /2013/06/03/v-is-for-virgin-alphabet-b-sides-and-rarities/ A feminist pop culture adventure Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:50:22 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.6 By: Pet Jeffery /2013/06/03/v-is-for-virgin-alphabet-b-sides-and-rarities/#comment-40461 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 19:50:22 +0000 http://www.badreputation.org.uk/?p=1666#comment-40461 A current example of virgin = pure, it occurs to me, is in olive oil. The purest form available (as far as I know) is ‘extra virgin’. This seems to imply that it’s possible to have degrees of virginity. Perhaps some of the saints you mention were extra virgin humans.

]]> By: Pet Jeffery /2013/06/03/v-is-for-virgin-alphabet-b-sides-and-rarities/#comment-40448 Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:46:27 +0000 http://www.badreputation.org.uk/?p=1666#comment-40448 It may be easier to take a positive view of a virgin forest (a phrase I’ve definitely encountered, although I can’t cite a reference) than virgin fortresses or cities. And a virgin forest seems the very place for the virgin huntress Artemis.

Perhaps more interestingly, ‘virgin’ is a word used by a number of writers seeking to explore feminine spirituality. This is an example:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1844266281/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Miranda Gray divides the menstrual cycle into four phases which she terms virgin, mother, enchantress and hag. (Virgin, in this context, refers to the period between bleeding and ovulation.) Part of her intent, perhaps, is to rehabilitate the word ‘hag’ which usually has strongly negative connotations. Much the same may apply to ‘crone’ in the feminist Daughters of the Moon tarot, which uses (with similar meaning) the words maiden, mother and crone for its court cards.

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