Martin could only have been hired to parody the male obsession with mute,
hymeneal girl-flesh (ahem, Woody) and prove the superiority of sex between adults: Where Martin was pale and limp, Gainsbourg is primed.
Only in one case a minor postoperative complication occurred: vaginal bleeding required a partial vaginal suture for
hymeneal ring laceration, due to important atrophy.
Rachel Gear argues that "the vagina, in particular, is identified as monstrous mainly because it bleeds, and therefore messes up the boundary between inside and outside a woman's body."(90) The fear of the blood that issues forth from the woman's vagina can be seen in the case of societies described by Jorg Wettlaufer, in which the defloration of the woman was done by another, whether they be low-status slaves who were paid to take the risk or high ranking individuals such as priests who were more likely to withstand the power of the vagina: "Very often this defloration ritual was connected to superstition and fear of
hymeneal blood."(91) Yet where there is fear, there can also be reverence..
(8) As Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, Solimar Otero, and Catherine Blackledge tell us, this trope takes on multiple shapes: anxieties about teeth or snakes hidden within the female organ and attacking unsuspecting men during intercourse; fear of
hymeneal or menstrual blood; fear of syphilis as a secret, silent weapon against enemies; fear of being "lost" inside a woman; the penis captivus myth; skirt lifting as a defense tactic against unwanted visitors; mothers devouring their offspring; succubus stories; or rumors about enemy agents seducing soldiers and then castrating them with razors hidden in their vaginas (particularly German women in World War II, Soviet spies, and Vietnamese women during the Vietnam War).
(9) The region of the
hymeneal ring was richly supplied with free nerve endings.
Jankowski, '
Hymeneal Blood, Interchangeable Women, and the Early Modern Marriage Economy in Measure for Measure and All's Well that Ends Well', in R.
Finally, his child lost, his beloved rendered inhuman and his sanctuary destroyed, Miles quits a world utterly bereft of interest and self-immolates in "gem-like,
hymeneal" flame (51).
(5) Most women with anterior vaginal prolapse are asymptomatic, symptoms only tending to arise once the leading part of the prolapse extends past the
hymeneal ring.
(A lasting legacy of poststructuralism is to have shown the productive porosity of frames, their
hymeneal propensity to pliancy and rupture.)
Kathleen Davis in "
Hymeneal Alogic: Debating Political Community in The Parliament of Fowls" finds in Geoffrey Chaucer's dream-poem the diverse wranglings that made possible a version of England as the site of social contestation.
If there is no evidence of
hymeneal injury--which is unlikely to result from an accident--the main concern is ensuring the child can void.
