These days we are more likely to associate the word with Richard Branson than we are with Elizabeth I, but not too long ago even Britney was famous for being a virgin. Red squirrels might be sighted more often than fair maids, at least in my neck of the woods, but that does not mean we are no longer fascinated by sexual purity. On the contrary: witness the pulling power of Anke Bernau’s book.

‘What is virginity?’ Bernau asks, and the question is not as innocent as you might think. Does virginity have a different meaning for today’s teenager than it did for the medieval nun? Is it a physical, mental, or spiritual state? Can it be lost more than once? And – moot

Literary Review

Nov 2007

Categories

Frances Wilson

Changing My Mind

In Cleanness and in Filth

Best of Frenemies

Minor Miracles

To Disturb or Not to Disturb?

You Butter My Book…

Memoirs, She Wrote

Infernal Greetings

Battle of the Sexes Resumed

Walks Like a Novel, Swims Like a Fish?

Monsieur Plum & Mother Rat

Murder, He Wrote

She Wore It Best

Fay Weldon Took the Light Bulbs

Neo-Pagans at Large

Delights of the Public Catalog Room

A Place in the Sun

’Twas the Fight before Christmas

Fatal Hat-traction

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Poetry & Pose

Stepping Out

Fear and Loathing in LA

In Praise of Mad Books

Oh What a Feeling