A final-year medical student of Usman Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, Zakariya Mansur, has explained that the absence of bleeding during a woman’s first sexual intercourse does not mean she is not a virgin.
Mansur, who is also a medical education and health awareness advocate, said there was no reliable physical sign that could medically confirm female virginity.
He disclosed that he was recently contacted over a marital dispute triggered by the husband’s belief that his wife was not a virgin because there was no blood during their first sexual intercourse.
According to him, while some women may experience slight bleeding during first-time intercourse, many do not, and this is medically normal.
“Bleeding may occur, but it is not universal. Absence of bleeding does not mean prior sexual activity, just as presence of bleeding does not prove virginity,” he explained.
Reacting via his official Facebook handle, Mansur said the common belief that the hymen must tear and bleed during first intercourse was misleading.
He noted that in many women, the hymen is elastic and stretches rather than tears, resulting in no bleeding, while some women are born with little or no hymenal tissue.
The health advocate added that the hymen could also stretch through non-sexual activities such as cycling, gymnastics, tampon use or medical examinations, stressing that these activities do not take virginity.
Mansur further explained that adequate arousal, natural lubrication and gentle penetration reduce friction and tissue injury, thereby lowering the chances of bleeding.
He cautioned against using bleeding as a measure of a woman’s moral or sexual history, describing such expectations as medically unfounded and harmful to marriages.If you want, I can tighten it further, remove social-media language, or make it more conservative for print front pages.
