The Price of Virginity

An Italian court has found that a man who sexually abused his 14-year-old stepdaughter should receive a lighter sentence because the girl was not a virgin — and, therefore, the damage to her was not as significant as it would have been otherwise. The price of virginity is a subject that has received much attention over the centuries (the Talmud, for instance, is full of such discussions), but I have never seen it addressed so directly in a contemporary court setting.

Even if you agree with the Italian court, it’s pretty obvious that by making such a controversial ruling, and thereby drawing so much more attention to the case, the court has sentenced to the girl to several years’ worth of additional unwanted scrutiny.

Here’s a link to a CNN.com article; thanks to Bill Griffiths for the tip.