This is a good thread. I like it. This kind of stuff needs discussion. Wow. I totally agree with the afore-placed quote. Pardon me, but how ridiculous to think that I would NOT be considered a virgin if my physical hymen was torn by horseback riding or a vibrator! I'm sorry, but doesn't virginity have to do with sex? And doesn't that involve at least two people? Isn't one-person sex called "masturbation," even if it is with an insertable toy? And tampons--let me just say absolutely not sexual at all. Please. Seriously...?! I am a 36yo female virgin. Many times I add "technically" when I speak of my virginity because I am not sexually innocent. I simply have never had a penis inserted into my vagina. This makes me a virgin regardless of the state of my hymen, which I'm sure is no longer intact. So I guess the way I see it is as an emotional thing as well as a physical thing--a physical penis entering a physical vagina in a consensual setting, as Tyger mentioned. And personally, there is nobody I have felt emotionally close enough to to share this physical act with. But I also know that making love has a lot more to it than penetration...so...can one make love with someone and still be a virgin? Hmm. Maybe that's a topic for another thread?? By the way, just because I haven't had a penis inside me does not mean I am pure as the driven snow--or some kind of freaky prude who denies her sexuality (oh crap, sorry...that was a very judgmental statement...take it as just how I feel people see me sometimes). How ridiculous to judge a person based on the state of their sexual history anyway, really. Isn't that against everything this site and this forum stands for? Good golly, did any of that make ANY sense...?