Defiled Forever/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A woman who loses her virginity (whether it was her choice or not) or gets raped (whether she was a virgin or not) is considered finished and no longer desirable. Related to My Girl Is Not a Slut.

  • Played Straight: Alice is raped or seduced, and Bob either breaks up with her, or rethinks his plans to ask her out, propose to her, etc.
  • Exaggerated: Because Alice is not a virgin anymore, Bob has her publicly executed. Bonus points if Alice was raped, not seduced.
  • Downplayed: Slut Shaming
  • Justified: Alice and Bob are living in some culture or time period where a high value is placed on a woman's virginity, because of a lack of readily-available paternity testing, religious morals, a love for the rare Ingenue, the groom having to shell out lots of gold/land/cattle/other currency to aquire a bride from her father, etc.
  • Inverted:
  • Subverted: Alice is raped just days before her wedding to Bob, and terrified to tell him because she thinks he'll break it off. Bob still goes through with the marriage.
  • Double Subverted: Until people start talking about Alice's "promiscuity", laughing at Bob for accepting "damaged goods," etc. Then Bob breaks off the engagement.
  • Parodied: Alice's skirt is blown up, and she runs away in shame, shouting "I can no longer be a bride!"
  • Deconstructed: Simply because Alice is not a virgin anymore, Alice is seen as worthless and "damaged". Her chances at happiness are ruined, and so is her reputation (for something that may not even be her fault). Not only does she lose her virginity, she loses everything: her family, her friends, her love interest (or chance at love/marriage), possibly her future.
  • Reconstructed:
    • Sure, Bob dumped her, and her parents disowned her, but a more enlightened person comes along and gladly accepts Alice, not caring what others think. Alice gets a second chance.
    • Alternately, after Alice is abandoned by Bob and her family because she's no longer "pure," she is forced to live independently, relying only on herself for support and becoming a strong, self-sufficient woman in the process.
  • Zig Zagged: Alice is raped just days before her wedding. Bob still loves Alice, and still decides to go through with the marriage. Then people start talking, and Bob breaks up with Alice. Then he feels bad about it, and apologizes to Alice and the wedding is on again.
  • Averted:
    • Alice's virginity is not a factor in whether or not Bob loves or marries her.
    • No commentary is made on it.
    • Alice loses her virginity to Bob.
  • Enforced:
  • Lampshaded: "Only a virgin will do!"
  • Invoked: Alice is raped, and believes (accurately or otherwise) she has no future because no man will want her.
  • Defied:
    • Alice is not a virgin, and Bob chooses to marry her anyway regardless of what others think. He may even love her all the more for it.
    • Alice was raped just days before her wedding, and Bob, who was having cold feet, suddenly refuses to even consider breaking up with her now; she needs his support too much.
  • Discussed: "Oh, so just because Alice isn't a virgin anymore, she's trash?!"
  • Conversed: "That made more sense back in the Stone Age, but today it's just misogyny."
  • Played For Laughs:
    • Alice slaps Bob for his commentary.
    • Alternatively, Alice thinks she's been defiled forever from something utterly innocuous, like a handshake or being seen in a bikini.
  • Played For Drama: Alice is reduced to begging on the street, or selling her body, because no man wants her now that she's not a virgin (and because of the time and place in which she lives) Alice is not educated enough to find honest work. And her parents are so ashamed that they disown her. (Again, bonus points if this wasn't even Alice's fault.)

OMG, that woman's been penetrated!!! That must mean she's a whore!!!! She's Defiled Forever!!!!!!