Editing Virginity (section)

====Judaism====
{{main|Judaism and sexuality}}
Premarital sex is forbidden in Judaism. In fact, the precedent for the ''[[mitzvot]]'' which are related in Deuteronomy 22:25-29, which regard what happens when a man rapes a virgin, may well have been set at [[Shechem]] after the [[rape of Dinah]] (cf. Genesis 34).

There are other references in the [[Torah]] to virginity. In the first reference, in {{bibleverse||Genesis|19:8|HE}}, Lot offers his virgin daughters to the people of Sodom for sexual purposes in an attempt to protect his guests (cf. Genesis 19:4-11), with the implication that the people of Sodom would be more likely to accept the offer in view of the girls' virginity than they would otherwise. This also sets the precedent for [[Israelites]] to avoid homosexual activity (cf. Leviticus 18:22, 20:13.<ref>Also see [http://www.brandeis.edu/projects/fse/judaism/docs/essays/same-sex-marriage.pdf Gail Labovitz's essay] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927071346/http://www.brandeis.edu/projects/fse/judaism/docs/essays/same-sex-marriage.pdf |date=2016-09-27 }} on the [[Talmudic]] view of [[same-sex marriage]]</ref>).

The next reference is at {{bibleverse||Genesis|24:16|HE}}, where [[Eliezer]] is seeking a wife for his master, Abraham's son. He meets [[Rebecca]], and the narrative tells us, "the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her" (in biblical terms, "to know" is a euphemism for sexual relations).

Children born to a single woman are not regarded as illegitimate (a ''[[mamzer]]'') or subject to social or religious disabilities—Perez and Zerach, for example (and although their mother was a widow who was willingly impregnated by her father-in-law), were not counted as ''mamzerim'' (cf. Genesis 38:24-30).

[[Halakhah]] also contains rules related to protecting female virgins, and rules regarding pre-marital sex, rape, and the effects of each.

In [[Torah]], a damsel who has not the sign of virginity in the early marriage shall be punished by death penalty, since the unvirgin woman among Israel is equal with a defiled whore in her father's house.<ref>{{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|22:20-21|KJV}}</ref>