“Virginity Is a Social Construct” — Nigerian Woman’s Viral Tweet Sparks National Debate on Purity Culture, Double Standards, and Patriarchy

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A young Nigerian woman has set the internet ablaze with a simple but deeply provocative statement: “Virginity is a social construct and should not hold any value.”

What followed was an explosion of backlash, support, and nationwide debate—dragging gender norms, religious expectations, patriarchy, and sexual hypocrisy into the public square.

The woman, whose original tweet went viral and even landed her on Instablog9ja for the first time, recounted the torrent of insults she received. From being called “ashewo,” “ugly,” and “barren,” to accusations that she was “recruiting other women to lose their virginity for free”—the vitriol came thick and fast.

But what shocked her the most wasn’t the backlash from men — many of whom, as she pointed out, are not virgins themselves — it was that women also joined in the attacks.

“Do you people even know what you’re doing?” she asked in frustration. “You’re upholding a system that was designed to control you.”

Standing firm on her position, she went further: “Let me even go further by saying virginity does not exist. It is an idea created by society, particularly men, to control and police women.”

She explained her standpoint with calm clarity. Virginity, she said, is not a medical condition. It has no biological, anatomical, or scientific basis. People are not born with virginity—they are born without sexual experience. That’s it.

As for the hymen — the tissue so often used to determine a woman’s sexual history — she highlighted that some women are born without one, others lose it through non-sexual activity, and many retain it even after intercourse. “So do we say those women were never virgins?” she asked rhetorically.

The double standards in Nigerian society were also a major focus of her argument. “Why is it only women that are expected to prove their virginity? Men sleep around, but they still demand ‘pure’ women. It’s hypocritical.”

She didn’t stop there. She exposed how purity culture not only reinforces inequality but also encourages dangerous and unhealthy behavior. One woman, she said, confessed to avoiding vaginal sex just to “preserve” her virginity for marriage — instead engaging in anal, oral, and everything else — still believing she was “pure.”

“What does that even mean?” she asked. “You’re attaching your value to what’s between your legs in 2025? I’m sorry for you.”

But she was clear: this wasn’t a call for promiscuity. Rather, it was a call for dignity — for everyone.

“I never said people should sleep around. I said being a virgin doesn’t make you more valuable, and having sex doesn’t make you less. Virginity is not morality. It’s not maturity. It’s not a badge of honor. It’s just a social concept — and we can choose to stop giving it power.”

Her message has opened the floodgates for overdue conversations across gender, generations, and cultures. Some praise her for the courage to say what many feel but fear voicing. Others cling tightly to traditional beliefs, uncomfortable with the challenge to their worldview.

But one thing is certain: in a country where purity is still policed — often violently — the viral tweet has started a necessary reckoning. The question now isn’t whether she was right or wrong.

It’s whether Nigeria is ready to evolve.