Nearly 1% of women say they were virgin when they gave birth

[Ralar]

Virgin births: not just for teen Jewish girls hanging out in Bethlehem barns anymore. According to research, almost 1% of American women claim that they, too were unpenetrated by the peen of a man when they became pregnant.

http://jezebel.com/nearly-1-of-women-claim-they-were-virgins-when-they-ga-1485703976?utm_campaign=socialflow_jezebel_facebook&utm_source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

Of course, big fibs like "I was a virgin when I gave birth" don't just happen in a vacuum because girls lie (although an idiot might take that away from this study). Researchers found a depressing — albeit predictable— correlation between women who claimed they became pregnant without sex and women who had signed "chastity pledges." There was also a correlation between those who claimed they were virgins when they gave birth and those whose parents never talked to them about sex or didn't know how to use condoms.

I hope this comment on the article was meant to be sarcastic: "correlation doesn't equal causation. Why are we assuming that the women who sign purity pledges are more likely to feel like they have to lie about how they got pregnant. Maybe God is just only willing to divinely inseminate women who are willing to sign purity pledges. Did you ever think of that science journalists?"

[keen23]

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

[crazyforkate]

God must be hedging his bets.

[formergothardite]

I remember on some parenting forum or perhaps it was a diapering one there was a lady who claimed she was a virgin when she got pregnant. She claims she never even took off her jeans, but her boyfriend had super strong sperm that made it through jeans, underwear and then into her vagina. She was pregnant when they got married but totally a virgin.

[Grace]

My mom was friends with a lady when I was a kid who got pregnant without actually doing the deed. There was nekkid sexual contact but no penetration and apparently her teenage boyfriend(later husband) had some very strong swimmers. But she never claimed divine insemination :lol: . My mom and her friends teased her about that SO HARD. And used her as a cautionary tale to us all.

[GeoBQn]

I remember reading a guide about sex for teens when I was young, and it had something like the following question:

Q: If I keep my underwear on, will that stop be from getting pregnant?

A: If underwear could stop sperm, they'd make condoms out of cotton.

[doggie]

I guess this proves vaginas are little Hoover vacuums.

[browngrl]

I never thought I would hear a pregnant woman insist she was a virgin but it turns out I have heard this more than a few times. I still find it weird though.

[Stephanie66]

I had a friend in college who made this claim. At the time, I just thought, "Well, if it makes you feel better about being pregnant..." She insisted she was still against birth control, even after giving birth and being a single parent. Whatever.

[Mudball]

I remember on some parenting forum or perhaps it was a diapering one there was a lady who claimed she was a virgin when she got pregnant. She claims she never even took off her jeans, but her boyfriend had super strong sperm that made it through jeans, underwear and then into her vagina. She was pregnant when they got married but totally a virgin.

I was coming to post exactly this. I know precisely who you are referring to. Lol

[Dysfundamental]

Most of them probably got pregnant through naked frottage or unprotected anal, because those "aren't really sex."

Anyone left has memory issues.

[Mama Mia]

I remember reading a guide about sex for teens when I was young, and it had something like the following question:

Q: If I keep my underwear on, will that stop be from getting pregnant?

A: If underwear could stop sperm, they'd make condoms out of cotton.

That's a very good point, and I've definitely heard that its possible without full penetration.

But 1% that's shocking to me that so many women would either be lying, in denial, or had these heavy petting type accidents.

Eta: went back and read the actual study. For one it's .05%, not 1%, and the way they did the study, women who weren't reporting being raped as engaging in sexual intercourse would have been counted in their "virgin birth" count, so the headlines seem a little misleading.

[FJSharkJump]

I got pregnant after my third sexual encounter with my boyfriend. We used condoms the first two times, but the third rendezvous was very unplanned and I miscalculated when my last period had been. It was something that I actually gave quite a bit of consideration to and I would not have had sex that day if I hadn't believed I was not at risk of conceiving. But my memory was faulty. And, thus I was a pregnant 18yo about to go to college. (I wish Plan B had been available to me. Because I did realize my error in calculation within a couple of days. A lot of heartache could have been avoided.)

I was raised borderline-Fundy and I was freaked out about my parents' and siblings' reaction to the proof that I had sex before marriage. I didn't have the courage for them to know and to go through with the pregnancy. I had a secret abortion. But before that decision was made, I do remember actually thinking that I could just pretend none of it ever happened. Not like the word "virgin" crossed my mind, but like I could just say it never really went that far and we were just fooling around and it's like a miracle and I know the odds of this happening are so small but it is totally possible just look it up in some science journal or something it could totally happen like this and I never had sex I swear I'm a good girl really. Really, I'm still a good girl. :(

And even as I was thinking all of this, I knew it was crazy, irrational nonsense. But I couldn't stop myself. Even though I was already well on the way to rejecting christianity, religion & god altogether and exploring outlandish concepts like autonomy and logic, the culture of shame in which I was raised still had such a hold on me. It had me twisting my mind into all sorts of contortions to try and fit Real-Life-Where-People-Have-Unprotected-Sex-and-Miscalculate-Ovulation-and-Become-Pregnant with that Sex-and-Body-Shaming-but-Only-for-Females-Worldview and still come out a whole person worthy of love. For a couple days there, I think I almost had myself convinced that the sex never happened. Really. Even as a part of my brain knew that was bananas.

My rational self won out in the end. But I had a lot on my side to make that possible. A naturally skeptical and inquisitive personality, which is what led me to already have one foot out the door on faith. Plus, an excellent science education that I received in public school (the main reason that I knew anything about my fertility cycle to begin with). I can sorta see how a few women might not be able to get beyond the shamepanic-induced crazy and convince themselves that they never had sex. It's sad.

[YPestis]

The power of denial!

Plenty of experiences abound of patients who deny all kinds of immoral behaviors AFTER they've tested positive for drugs in their urine and STDs......not surprised that some people would go so far as to deny sexual penetration despite a pregnancy.

In fact, I'm not surprised that this group comes out of conservative families where sex education is scarce and premarital sex is taboo. It's a perfect storm. Teens with an incomplete understanding of sexual reproduction, faced with social stigma, use their ignorance to defend their reputation. It's sad all around. Here's to abstinence education!

[singsingsing]

It's entirely possible to get pregnant and still be a virgin. You just have to do it through in vitro fertilization. I'm sure that it has happened.

[BalconySmoker]

It's entirely possible to get pregnant and still be a virgin. You just have to do it through in vitro fertilization. I'm sure that it has happened.

I came here just to say this myself. I have a single friend who had this done with donor sperm two years ago (maybe three? I don't recall her son's age). She shared with me not long ago that while she's dated guys in the past....it's never led to sex. She is still a virgin.

She got tired of waiting for the right guy to come along, and decided to have a baby on her own before it was too late to do it safely. Her son was technically born to a virgin. I'm sure he isn't the first kid conceived this way.

[Mama Mia]

I came here just to say this myself. I have a single friend who had this done with donor sperm two years ago (maybe three? I don't recall her son's age). She shared with me not long ago that while she's dated guys in the past....it's never led to sex. She is still a virgin.

She got tired of waiting for the right guy to come along, and decided to have a baby on her own before it was too late to do it safely. Her son was technically born to a virgin. I'm sure he isn't the first kid conceived this way.

They screened out for that in the study. But there were some other problems with it that jumped out at me with the way things were worded, so that people who were now celibate could potentially get put in the "virgin birth" category, and conceived by rape, and it was 1/2 of one percent, not one percent.

[Mela99]

It should be a law that you have to properly educate kids on this sort of thing.

My neighbors in my last apartment building was a virgin. When she started dating her first real boyfriend, she asked me if she had to be worried if they both had pants on... Not underwear, but sweatpants and jeans. I thought she was joking at first, but she was serious.

That was also the night I had to explain condoms to her and find something in the apartment to show her how it worked - she thought it had to be laid at the front of the vagina and unrolled as a guy entered. I broke a taper candle in half showing her how to use one.

I didn't get much of a sex talk, but I'm really damned glad my mom had Cosmo in the house...

[Chowder Head]

It should be a law that you have to properly educate kids on this sort of thing.

My neighbors in my last apartment building was a virgin. When she started dating her first real boyfriend, she asked me if she had to be worried if they both had pants on... Not underwear, but sweatpants and jeans. I thought she was joking at first, but she was serious.

That was also the night I had to explain condoms to her and find something in the apartment to show her how it worked - she thought it had to be laid at the front of the vagina and unrolled as a guy entered. I broke a taper candle in half showing her how to use one.

I didn't get much of a sex talk, but I'm really damned glad my mom had Cosmo in the house...

Sex talk said a women from Louisiana whats that? I never had one then my parents actually asked me to have one with my sister which I am many years older than. WTH? I did not and she ended up pregnant but I don't think its my fought... but any who. But way to go Mela99. :clap:

[NurseNell]

A friend of mine was a virgin, she got pregnant without penetration. It was a date rape after her senior prom. Her dress remained on, he tried getting her underwear off but she was fighting him. It was very traumatic, she gave the baby up for adoption. When she went to the doctor he said to her, as he went to examine her, that she was a virgin, was she really sure she was pregnant? So it isn't always denial, sometimes it's true that one gets pregnant without penetration.