Virginity - Crown or Curse?

Yeah, it was only a matter of time before sex came up as a topic in one of these posts.  And, to anyone who has had sex, nothing can be as shaping of a person's sex life as their first time.

But there's a bit of a dilemma here.  A conflict of interest, if you will.  Even today, if you're a young woman, you're often told to wait to have sex while young men are told that it's alright to have sex and are even encouraged to have sex.  The operative word in the previous statement is "often" because it's no longer ALWAYS the case.  Parenting has gone from a case of "do's" or "do not's" and turned into a resigned "be safe". Where did this come from?  When did it start?  Has virginity become more of a liability than a asset?  In today's highly sexualized society, it seems that virginity carries a strange stigma.  In fact, stating that you are a virgin beyond your twenties conjures up images of people who are socially inept and/or emotionally stunted.  Why wouldn't someone have sex unless there were something stopping them?  At least, that appears to be the mindset of society today.

Amusingly, this kind of attitude isn't new.  In fact, the Shakespearean character Parolles gives a rather well made argument for giving up one's virginity as soon as possible...

It is not politic in the commonwealth of nature to preserve virginity. Loss of virginity is rational increase, and there was never virgin got till virginity was first lost. That you were made of is metal to make virgins. Virginity by being once lost may be ten times found; by being ever kept is ever lost. 'Tis too cold a companion. Away with it! 'Tis against the rule of nature. To speak on the part of virginity is to accuse your mothers, which is most infallible disobedience. He that hangs himself is a virgin; virginity murders itself, and should be buried in highways out of all sanctified limit, as a desperate offendress against nature. Virginity breeds mites, much like a cheese, consumes itself to the very paring, and so dies with feeding his own stomach. Besides, virginity is peevish, proud, idle, made of self-love, which is the most inhibited sin in the canon. Keep it not; you cannot choose but lose by it. Out with it! Within ten year it will make itself ten, which is a goodly increase, and the principal itself not much the worse. Away with it! 'Tis a commodity will lose the gloss with lying: the longer kept, the less worth. Off with it while 'tis vendible; answer the time of request. Virginity, like an old courtier, wears her cap out of fashion, richly suited, but unsuitable, just like the brooch and the toothpick, which wear not now. Your date is better in your pie and your porridge than in your cheek; and your virginity, your old virginity, is like one of our French withered pears: it looks ill, it eats drily. 

Now...what exactly is Parolles arguing?  For all the high language, he is simply saying that, to stay a virgin isn't natural.  That animals in nature don't maintain their virginities and so humans shouldn't either.  He also says that virginity, like any commodity, will become less attractive as time passes.  That a person who holds onto their virginity too long will eventually be unable to find someone who wants it.  That seems to be very much the case today.  Especially with movies and television, it seems like every other title focuses around finding someone to have sex with or the aftermath of having sex with the wrong person...usually fixed by having sex with the right person.

While not an extremely recent film, one that exemplifies this idea the best is The Forty Year Old Virgin.  Just the title alone has the reader wondering what could be "wrong" with someone for them to be a virgin at forty years old.  Of course, the film pretty much takes those previously stated "virgin stereotypes" by making the  title character socially awkward with low self esteem.  And, it's only in his pursuit of sex does he manage to become a more well rounded person...although his friends (who have all already had sex) have their lives more or less turn to crap due to their bad decisions.

Of course, virginity has never really been a badge of honor for men.  Even across cultures, it's always been women who are expected to remain celibate before marriage.  In some ways, this new view of sexuality has grown as a form of empowerment to some women.  Rather than clinging to their "purity" as a sign of self worth, they discard it in exchange for a "freer" sexual lifestyle.

Funny how after all that, I haven't actually answered the title question.  What's your take on it?  Has virginity lost its importance?  Is it a hinderance or is it no longer even an issue?