Virginity TAKEN

The other day my husband and I watched a movie called Taken. (Please note: I am not writing to promote or demote the movie in any way). After the heart-beating action was over and the movie came to a tear-jerking end, I began to ponder the value of virginity as displayed in the movie.

Let me give you a brief summary of the movie to help make my point (warning: plot spoilers below):

Kim is a beautiful, lively, 17 years old and the pride of her father, a retired secret service agent. Kim convinces her reluctant father, along with her mother and stepfather, to let her travel with her friend Amanda to Paris. Shortly after arriving the unsuspecting girls are taken by an Albanese gang of human trafficers. Kim’s father vows to find and kill her kidnappers and sets off to use his years experience to save her. Kim’s kidnappers don’t hold onto her for long however, for it is discovered that Kim is of high value – for she is a virgin. Kim is therefore forced into the sex trade, controlled by drugs, clothed in revealing attire, and put on display for the highest bidder. This is how her father finally finds her.

It is certainly an intense plot with a disturbing look at the evils of humanity and the hidden economics of sex trafficking.

But the point I want to make is this. Kim is of value because of her virginity.

Yet earlier in the movie her friend Amanda teases Kim because she hasn’t “done” it yet. It is clear that Amanda doesn’t see virginity as valuable, yet something that upon loosing gains you prowess, popularity and partners. Why is it that in our American culture being a virgin is a terrible thing, a source of peer-imposed embarrassment and media-driven stigmas?

And yet, Kim’s virginity is of value only so that some sick, wealthy, older man can selfishly “take” it from her. The title of the movie Taken brings on a whole new meaning.

It is in light of the vicious, greediness of her perpetrators that Kim’s untouched beauty shines more clearly. It is undeniable that a virgin poses an allure felt by all, not solely men.

(funny how feminists would fight virginity as an “old age” societal constraint of their freedoms…yet I wonder how they would respond to this)

I heard one woman put it like this:

“Virgins poses an allure, not because of their purity, but because of the strength that it takes to pose it.”

To read more on sex trafficking, check out Siddharth Kara’s excellent book
Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery.