Sex/uality Artifacts

Hello! My name is Christina and I presented my first artifact on the CW television series “Jane the Virgin”. The series is based around Jane and her family and extended family and friends who are all helping Jane as she deals with motherhood (she was mistakenly artificially inseminated by her doctor), attending college, and other things that happen in her life from episode to episode. However, the show presents flashbacks and when Jane was a young age her grandmother told her that her virginity was like a flower. Her grandmother placed a high emphasis on virginity as Jane’s mother became pregnant with her as teenager, and her grandmother would not want to see Jane become like her mother. One day, Jane’s grandmother tells her that “virginity is like a flower” and then “crumple up the flower and try to make it whole again.” Jane realizes that she cannot do that and learns about virginity that way. What her grandmother taught her really stuck with Jane and while her friends were interested in sex and sex education she was less interested in it. She valued virginity and has been waiting for the right person to come along so that she can lose her virginity in a special way.

This artifact relates to the reading “Sexuality in Adolescence” because while the authors discussed many factors that influence one’s sexuality they did not discuss virginity. When I was an adolescent virginity was something that drilled into my head like Jane’s grandmother did to her and I could relate to what her grandmother was discussing. I think that telling adolescents about virginity, and that it is something important to people will help adolescents as they begin to navigate romantic relationships. While, one cannot gain their virginity back they can hold onto it for as long as they would like. I think that it would be beneficial for adolescents to know about virginity (although it is a bit of a myth to some) because it is something that influences people’s reasoning’s to have sex or not, and it is something that might be important to adolescents when children are experiencing many changes with their bodies. In terms of the show, it was an interesting analogy to a flower and I am glad that I could share the clip. Also, consider when did you learn about virginity? How was it told to you? Has it influenced your feelings regarding sex?