Not like we have enough standards and ideals for women already, right?

For as long as I can remember, (which is not too long, after all,) vaginas have been judged by two "quality checks". The hymen test, which we already know to be terribly flawed, and how tight it is.

While at first, tightness may appear to have an obvious correlation with better sex, such correlations in this realm are known to be flawed. For example, a big dick does not guarantee you're great at the birds and the bees. So let's take a deeper look into, erm, where this concept comes from, how valid it is, and what people (women) really think about it.

Is The Sex Better?

"Tighter is better makes very little sense because vaginas can't be that loose unless you've had an especially complicated birth, so the penis will get stimulated anyway." Srishti, 18, muses.

And hey, she's not wrong there. Vaginas are made with the ability to give birth to a whole baby, which means that they're quite flexible. This also means that they can't be permanently stretched out, contrary to popular belief, and definitely not due to a lot of sex.

So where does this idea come from?

"At this point, it's not about the sex but what it represents," she adds. "I think people mostly think it's good because they subconsciously associate tightness with virginity."

And hence we come back to the egg that hatched the chicken that birthed the egg.

Fertility and Age

Shriya, 19, has similar views. "Maybe it started out as an association with youth and fertility, and perhaps it was then associated with ideas of purity and virginity. That became the object of desire for many."

Of course, age can cause the pelvic muscles to weaken without exercise, which may be one of the other reasons that gave birth to this line of thought.

"Even in Hollywood, if you look at film noir from the 30s and 40s, you see older men with much younger women. Of course, porn and age gaps are an example still around today."

Something similar can be said about the ages of Bollywood's own most popular actors and actresses, without the need to name names. Socially, there is often much more pressure upon women to remain youthful in their appearances (think about it- who's the primary target audience for most ageing creams?)

In the end, the entire concept of tighter is better appears to stem from social constructs and a general lack of information or awareness about vaginas. I mean, many guys can't even find the clit, so it's easy to see how little they know about the actual way a vagina functions.

However, and I cannot stress this enough, sexual education and awareness are important. These prehistoric perspectives are exactly what lead to horrifying cases such as the husband stitch performed without the woman's consent. And that, folks, is not okay.