I don't understand why anyone outside of hereditary monarchists care about virginity anymore
@levisan aren't you Catholic? The Roman and Eastern churches put a great deal of stock in it. If nothing else, in the purely material context: would you rather use a new toothbrush, or be the most recent in line to use a communal one?
@jezza Haha I was hoping someone would have your exact thought (just me trying to stir the pot by being vague).
The virginity of Blessed Virgin is (still) important because it shows how Jesus' conception was a miracle in a way society at the time could comprehend (and of course it still works now).
But aside from that, it seems like society (at least from my point of observation) seems to care too much. I get that many people would prefer to be someone who hasn't been with anyone else, and of course it makes sense if one has personal convictions about what's right/wrong that they might care about it for themselves, but both of those are very personal/private things. I don't know why people are talking about them out loud, in social settings, and the like. I don't care about the 40 year old virgin, I don't care about the virginity status of, well, everyone but Mary.
But then again maybe that's because I'm just an old married man.
@levisan why would it matter for the BVM and not your wife, sister, or daughter? It's a requirement only of one person for one reason, one time only and means nothing to anyone else? What about the sixth commandment?
What about the rampant sexual diseases spreading today precisely because of promiscuity?
@jezza One thing that's weird to me is that society seems to care more about virginity than promiscuity.
I might care if a specific person is a virgin, but outside of morality, whether they are promiscuous seems like a much more important question to start with, both for the sake of my role in the case of my daughter and public health.
But it seems like so many segments of western culture care more about virginity when, from a secular standpoint, it means so little.