For a long time, it has been a thing for women to be rated marry-able majorly by the presence of an hymen. In ancient Yoruba culture, virginity was so important that whole communities were said to have stood outside a new couple’s hut on their wedding night while they went in to consummate the marriage.
The groom would triumphantly hold up a white sheet stained with the evidence of his bride’s ‘completeness’ and the whole community would erupt in gladness at the sight. A lack of it meant the bride was ‘incomplete’ and it was both a shame on her and her family.
It didn’t particularly matter if the woman was of good character, an industrious nature or anything of the sort. If she wasn’t a virgin, she just was no good, plain and simple.
