The Jumping Virgin

Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t been as active on here as I have been in the past.

Remember how I said I’d only put books on this blog that I really enjoyed? It’s been a bit harder to enjoy some books lately because of a phenomenon I call “The Jumping Virgin.”

Case in point. I picked up a book last week and started reading it. It was amazing, and I had actually started drafting a blog post for it. I mean, I was ready to praise this book like it was written by Mark fucking Twain.

But alas, at 40%, it got me. She jumped out onto the page like a cheap weed dealer from behind a tree at a middle school.

A fucking virgin. Another female fucking virgin main character.

You know the type. She talks about her “V card being punched” and talks about how much she wants this guy to be her first. Ironically, it’s usually a guy who has been around the block more than the ice cream truck, but she’s this “pure and innocent” piece that he’s been lustfully eyeing for 10 years.

Many times, the relationship between the two mains happened a long time ago, and she has literally saved herself for his return to their small town. Several books have even gone on to say that she lost her virginity to him 10 years ago and hasn’t been with anyone since.

So let me ask you. Is it remotely believable that a woman, who is utterly gorgeous and not at all religious, is a virgin? I mean, if she were super religious or something, I’d even get it.

Yeah. If I’m reading a regency romance about a woman in the 1600s, I expect the woman to be a virgin. This is partly because most women of that time were 17 when they got married. If it’s a college romance about an 18-year-old, there’s an ok chance she’s a virgin.

But really? A grown ass woman?

I’ve even forgiven some of the virgin romances I’ve reviewed for this blog. Some, like Krish, had the virginity as an important plot point and were so well-written that the virginity wasn’t intolerable.

But the vast majority of “jumping virgin” books I’ve found lately have no reason to have the main character be a virgin except for perpetuating the perception of the innocent female and the male that can do whatever he wants without any consequence.

It’s such an incredibly sexist and old-fashioned view that it actually makes me want to toss the book across the room frisbee-style in frustration as soon as I get there. I can’t do this though. I’m a person that HAS to finish a book when I start one.

So there I suffer with 60% of a book left where I have to listen about how our female MC has done such a great job securing her hymen just so the dude who is constantly getting his dick sucked by the “horrid non-virgins” of the world can fall in love with our girl. Yes, she’s a valiant heroine that has managed to secure her hymen just to become a billionaire’s admin assistant and give it up to him on his desk.

Let’s talk about non-virgins vs. virgins. When I read books that glorify the female MCs virginity, what does that tell us about non-virgins? Are women in romance books that know their way around a dick not strong characters compared to women who are 30 and have never seen a penis up close? It’s an old patriarchal way of thinking that virginity is the ultimate gift a woman can give.

It needs to fucking go.

I guess I just come from a different school of thought. I’d rather have my characters know what the hell they’re doing in the bedroom and ask for it rather than curl up and have the big strong man wax poetic with his “I’ll take it slow for you, baby” bullshit.

But then again…