Virgins

Virgins haunted the medieval imagination; in those days only virgins were thought capable of taming a unicorn. To the most devout young women, virginity was worth dying for. Nuns and saints threatened with rape preferred to mutilate or kill themselves rather than lose their claim to perfection. Later centuries grew more ambivalent about virginity: before marriage it remained praiseworthy, but it was ridiculed and despised as unnatural if preserved for too long.

We would be wrong to think that today virginity is irrelevant. It remains a fraught concept. Hailed as a radical rebellion against secular culture, virginity movements are springing up, and enjoy powerful political and religious backing, especially in the US. Their supporters argue that virginity is a cure-all for society's ills, from teen pregnancy to mental health and even crime. Meanwhile, plastic surgery promises women that re-hymenisation can spice up a flagging love life.

Anke Bernau's witty and thought-provoking examination of virginity reveals its many bizarre manifestations throughout its long history as well as its growing contemporary potency.