The hymen is a membrane or tissue that lines and partially blocks the vaginal opening. Hymens can be thick or thin. It also leaves an opening to allow menstrual blood to flow out.
According to LiveStrong.com, it’s a common misconception that the hymen is inside the vagina. It’s actually part of the vulva. It’s formed from a layer of tissue that develops in the early stages of fetal development.
Sometimes the hymen is not ideal.
An imperforate hymen has tissue covering the entire vaginal opening and menstrual blood can’t flow out. Blood can back up in the vagina and develop into an abdominal mass and lead to abdominal or back pain. This can be fixed with minor surgery to create an opening.
A microperforate hymen has a membrane that almost completely covers the vaginal opening. Blood can get out, but the opening is extremely small. Minor surgery can create a normal size opening.
A septate hymen is when there is an extra band of tissue. When this happens, there are two small openings, not one. Again minor surgery can remove the extra tissue and make a normal opening.
Still yet, some women are born without a hymen.
The hymen is most famous for being associated with a woman’s virginity. The age-old belief being that since it covers the vaginal opening; the hymen stays intact until a woman has sexual intercourse. Guess what? A torn hymen doesn’t mean a woman has lost her virginity.
According to Discovery Health, it’s a scientific fact that the hymen can be separated for reasons quite unconnected to sexual intercourse. It can separate when the body is stretched strenuously, as in athletics; it can be separated by inserting a tampon during menstruation or through masturbation; and sometimes it is separated for no apparent reason.
A hymen can also be stretched or torn by fingers, sex toys and even during a gynecological exam. Some women have hymen tissue that’s so flexible, it moves aside during penetration. And for others, inserting tampons or fingers doesn’t do a thing to their hymen.
Columbia University’s Go Ask Alice column wrote, contrary to popular belief, all women do not bleed during their first sexual experience involving vaginal penetration. A small study published in the British Medical Journal in 1998 backs this up. Sara Paterson-Brown, M.D., a gynecologist, interviewed 41 of her female colleagues at a London hospital, and found that 26 of them did not bleed during their first experience, 14 did, and one could not remember. The absence of bleeding is explained by previous stretching of the hymen, or because some women have a naturally more elastic hymen.(goaskalice)
Sources:
http://healthguide.howstuffworks.com/hymen-dictionary.htm
http://www.youngwomenshealth.org/hymen.html
http://www.livestrong.com/article/12449-female-hymen/
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/2272.html
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/1825.html
http://www.pamf.org/teen/health/femalehealth/hymen.html
Reviewed June 9, 2011
Edited by Alison Stanton