title: Virgin: The Untouched History
author:  Hanne Blank 
description: <I>Starred Review.</i> By any material reckoning, virginity does not exist," writes Blank in this informative, funny and provocative analysis of one of the most elusive&mdash;and prized&mdash;qualities of human sexuality. Blank, an independent scholar, has pieced together a history of how humans have constructed the idea of virginity (almost always female and heterosexual) and engineered its uses to suit cultural and political forces. Blank has no shortage of fascinating facts: since Western virginity was symbolized by the color white, missionaries viewed nonwhite peoples as sexually immoral; late medieval and Renaissance moralists thought they could detect whether a woman was a virgin by examining her urine ("a virgin's was clear, sparkling, and thin"). Blank also has a pleasing, highly readable style that allows her to convey large amounts of information with wit and agility. But she becomes most animated, and political, when she probes contemporary ideas about virginity. Taking on a range of questions&mdash;why is virginity considered sexy? how does the idea of virginity fuel violence against women?&mdash;she makes the case that contemporary culture is as obsessed with, and benighted about, virginity, as those of the past. Thoroughly researched, carefully argued and written with a sly sense of humor, this is a bright addition to the popular literature of women's and cultural studies. <I>(Mar.)</I> <BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
zlib_text: VIRGIN IN THE CITY
  
  ALEXA RILEY
  
  Contents
  Virgin in the City
  Chapter 1
  Chapter 2
  Chapter 3
  Chapter 4
  Chapter 5
  Chapter 6
  Chapter 7
  Chapter 8
  Chapter 9
  Chapter 10
  Chapter 11
  Chapter 12
  Chapter 13
  Chapter 14
  Chapter 15
  Chapter 16
  Chapter 17
  Chapter 18
  Epilogue
  Epilogue
  Epilogue
  Shielding Lily
  Chapter 1
  Also by Alexa Riley
  Stalk the Author
  
  Copyright © 2018 by Author Alexa Riley LLC. All rights reserved.
  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying,
  recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of
  brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission
  requests, email to riley_alexa@aol.com
  http://alexariley.com/
  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination.
  Locales and public n