You can't POP Your Cherry! (HYMEN 101)

[redqueen]

Your first time isn't supposed to hurt, and you're not supposed to bleed.

[Louisiana1976]

1. My first time was rape. It hurt a lot and I bled a lot.

[redqueen]

2. I'm so sorry you had to endure that as your first experience.

[Louisiana1976]

7. Thanks.

[Warpy]

3. I'm so sorry

Mine wasn't much better, I was young and the guy was an ignorant jackrabbit. Most of my friends rated their first time as either farcical or a painful thing they'd rather forget.

Still, it only hurt for a second but it really, really hurt. No lube, of course.

I've always thought hymenectomy just after birth would do girl babies a lot of good. Not only would they never have to be hung up on a vestigial piece of leftover meat as their only worth to the world, they wouldn't have to dread that first time.

[Louisiana1976]

8. Thanks. A hymenectomy just after birth sounds like an interesting idea.

[Warpy]

11. It would also make patriarchs frustrated as hell

since they could no longer make a fetish of that thing.

[Warpy]

14. ......

[BainsBane]

18. I always miss the fun

[Tuesday Afternoon]

19. me too.

[Warpy]

20. I can't even remember what it was now

but yeah, that's the only response I could make.

[ismnotwasm]

4. ...

No words

[Louisiana1976]

9. ....

[thucythucy]

6. I'm so sorry. I hope

you've been able to get the support you need to heal.

Best wishes.

[Louisiana1976]

10. Thanks. I have.

[ismnotwasm]

5. This is a great video

And should be part of sex education curriculum

[redqueen]

12. It really should. Girls are conditioned to expect so little consideration from their partners. nt

[redqueen]

15. I wonder what a poll would look like.

i.e. I wonder how many women had a considerate partner their first time. I sure didn't.

[eridani]

16. Looks like I'm the exception here

My first time was with someone twice my age (I was 19). No bleeding, but no full penetration until the third time. I think there are some people who just get off on the educational aspect of initiating virgins (either sex), as a way of re-experiencing that sense of discovery that you can only have once for yourself.

[redqueen]

21. I suspect you're right, and the majority are painful and involve tearing / bleeding.

I hope this information becomes more widely known.

[BainsBane]

17. Seriously

Here I am middle-aged, and I didn't know I still had a hymen.

I love Laci.

[redqueen]

22. It's an outrage that so little is taught re: female anatomy. nt

[jakeXT]

23. I was expecting something on estrogen

As the body changes, so does the hymen. Before puberty, a girl’s hymen
is often crescent-shaped, although there are certainly variations. The hymen
is stretched across the opening of the vagina and it is almost translucent.
You can actually see some of the capillaries in it and it covers much of the
opening of the vagina.
By the end of puberty, the hymen no longer drapes across the opening
of the vagina, but becomes more like an O-ring or collar, allowing a penis to
have full entry. This change is due to the impact of
estrogen on the hymen
tissue, which has estrogen receptors in it just like the walls of the vagina.
Since the
estrogen makes the hymen more elastic, our modern notion that
the hymen “pops” like a cherry during the first intercourse is silly.

http://www.90secondsonsex.com/pdfs/hymen.pdf

[redqueen]

24. Not sure why that needs to be spelled out.

Estrogen fuels most of a woman's physiological changes during puberty.

The point is thar it isn't supposed to hurt, and you're not supposed to bleed.

[jakeXT]

25. I think it's good to know that hormones change the hymen to be ready

for intercourse, and it's usually not something mechanical during intercourse that causes the change.
Likewise the lack of enough estrogen during puberty or maybe even the change that occurs after menopause can be a cause for pain.

Not Fully Estrogenized:
In some women, the hymen doesn’t become
fully estrogenized or elasticized during puberty. One healthcare provider
who does premarital exams told us that she sometimes prescribes estrogen
cream for her abstinent patients who are getting married whose hymens
haven’t become very elasticized yet. So if you haven’t had intercourse and
are concerned, this would be a good question to ask a gynecologist—Does
your hymen appear to have been adequately
estrogenized for intercourse?
(As for the effect of hormonal birth control on the hymen, no one knows.
No research has been done.)

In the newborn the hymen is vascular and the epithelium is thick.
In the prepubertal female, the lack of estrogen renders the
hymenal tissue thin and friable.
Therefore, there is no distensibility prior to puberty.
At puberty, it becomes thick and
redundant with a tendency of folding out
...
At menopause, the epithelium becomes thin in response to estrogen depriva-
tion

http://www.thehealthj.com/december_2012/hymen_facts_and_conceptions.pdf

Vaginal atrophy, also called atrophic vaginitis, is thinning, drying and inflammation of the vaginal walls due to your body having less estrogen. Vaginal atrophy occurs most often after menopause, but it can also develop during breast-feeding or at any other time your body's estrogen production declines.

For many women, vaginal atrophy makes intercourse painful — and if intercourse hurts, your interest in sex will naturally decrease. In addition, healthy genital function is closely connected with healthy urinary system function.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/vaginal-atrophy/basics/definition/con-20025768

[redqueen]

26. Why throw vaginal atrophy shit in there?

Do you want to start a thread about estrogen? Cause that has nothing to do with the hymen.

This is getting... weird.

[jakeXT]

27. Are you saying estrogen has nothing to do with the hymen ?

Or is it more in line with your first answer, that the whole female body is influenced by estrogen. And there is no need to focus on the hymen ?

One thing that always stuck with me about hymen was this piece of information, that's why I was really expecting something on estrogen.

One of the reasons why hymens rarely "pop" during intercourse is because estrogen tends to make the hymen more elastic
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/you-it/200806/new-york-times-is-wrong-about-the-hymen-they-are-not-alone

I only threw in the vaginal atrophy shit, because the hymen and the vaginal walls have estrogen receptors, so maybe when estrogen or lack thereof is causing changes in vaginal walls that result pain, it could also be happening to the hymen or hymen remnants (carunculae )

But as the midwife in her blog below notes, we should do more research on this topic.

Despite cellular definitions of hymenal tissue and remaining tag structures, little is known about the continue physiologic role of the hymenal ring or carunculae myrtiformes in vaginal anatomy, sensation, interrelationship with neighboring tissues and organs, and support for women who experience pain in the area of the fibrous hymenal ring. Clearly, however, its recognition is not missed as an anatomical reference point, its palpable difference to surrounding tissue, and pain- and pleasure-sensing points.

Lessons learned? The hymenal ring is different for everyone, vascular, sensitive, and an area of vaginal anatomy that likely could use additional research as to its vaginal elasticity related to estrogen supply, elasticity during childbirth, involvement with dyspareunia or vestibulodynia, and varied positioning in regards to a landmark structure for pelvic organ prolapse and suturing.

Read more: http://www.feministmidwife.com/2013/01/07/14-things-you-never-knew-about-the-hymenal-ring/

[redqueen]

28. I thought I was clear. Vaginal atrophy has nothing to do with the hymen.

This OP is about the hymen.

And this subthread is now officially creepy.