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Nina Dølvik Brochmann:
We grew up believing

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that the hymen is a proof of virginity.

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But it turns out, we were wrong.

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What we discovered

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is that the popular story we're told
about female virginity

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is based on two anatomical myths.

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The truth has been known
in medical communities for over 100 years,

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yet somehow these two myths
continue to make life difficult

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for women around the world.

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Ellen Støkken Dahl:
The first myth is about blood.

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It tells us that the hymen
breaks and bleeds

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the first time a woman has vaginal sex.

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In other words, if there is no blood
on the sheets afterwards,

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then the woman was simply not a virgin.

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The second myth is a logical
consequence of the first.

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Since the hymen is thought
to break and bleed,

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people also believe
that it actually disappears

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or is in some way radically altered
during a woman's first intercourse.

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If that were true,

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one would easily be able to determine
if a woman is a virgin or not

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by examining her genitals,

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by doing a virginity check.

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NDB: So that's our two myths:

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virgins bleed,

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and hymens are lost forever.

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Now, this may sound
like a minor issue to you.

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Why should you care

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about an obscure little skin fold
on the female body?

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But the truth is,
this is about so much more

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than an anatomical misunderstanding.

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The myths about the hymen
have lived on for centuries

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because they have cultural significance.

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They have been used as a powerful tool

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in the effort to control women's sexuality

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in about every culture,
religion and historical decade.

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Women are still mistrusted,

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shamed,

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harmed

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and, in the worst cases,
subjected to honor killings

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if they don't bleed
on their wedding night.

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Other women are forced
through degrading virginity checks,

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simply to obtain a job,

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to save their reputation

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or to get married.

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ESD: Like in Indonesia,

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where women are systematically examined
to enter military service.

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After the Egyptian uprisings in 2011,

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a group of female protesters were forced
to undergo virginity checks

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by their military.

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In Oslo, doctors are examining
the hymens of young girls

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to reassure parents
that their children are not ruined.

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And sadly, the list goes on.

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Women are so afraid not to live up to
the myths about the hymen

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that they choose to use
different virginity quick fixes

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to assure a bleeding.

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That could be plastic surgery,

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known as "revirgination,"

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it could be vials of blood
poured on the sheets after sex

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or fake hymens bought online,

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complete with theater blood

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and a promise to "kiss your deep,
dark secret goodbye."

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NDB: By telling girls
that no deed can be kept secret,

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that their bodies
will reveal them no matter what,

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we have endowed them with fear.

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Girls are afraid of ruining themselves,

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either through sport,

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play,

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tampon use

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or a sexual activity.

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We have curtailed their opportunities
and their freedoms.

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It's time we put an end
to the virginity fraud.

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It's time we break the myths
about the hymen

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once and for all.

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ESD: We are medical students,

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sexual health workers

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and the authors
of "The Wonder Down Under."

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(Laughter)

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That's a popular science book
about the female genitals.

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And in our experience,
people seem to believe

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that the hymen is some kind of a seal
covering the vaginal opening.

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In Norwegian, it is even called
"the virgin membrane."

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And with this,
we picture something fragile,

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something easily destructible,

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something you can rip through,

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perhaps like a sheet of plastic wrapping.

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You may have wondered
why we brought a hula hoop onstage today.

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We'll show you.

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(Laughter)

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Now, it is very hard to hide

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that something has happened
to this hoop, right?

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It is different
before and after I punched it.

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The seal is broken,

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and unless we change the plastic,

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it won't get back to its intact state.

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So if we wanted to do a virginity check
on this hoop right here,

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right now,

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that would be very easy.

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It's easy to say that this hoop
is not a virgin anymore.

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(Laughter)

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NDB: But the hymen
is nothing like a piece of plastic

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you can wrap around your food,

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or a seal.

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In fact ...

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it's more like this --

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a scrunchie or a rubber band.

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The hymen is a rim of tissue
at the outer opening of the vagina.

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And usually, it has a doughnut
or a half-moon shape

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with a large, central hole.

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But this varies a lot,

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and sometimes hymens can have fringes,

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it can have several holes,

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or it can consist of lobes.

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In other words, hymens
naturally vary a lot in looks,

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and that is what makes it so hard
to do a virginity check.

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ESD: Now that we know a bit more
about the hymen's anatomy,

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it's time to get back to our two myths:

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virgins bleed,

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hymens are lost forever.

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But the hymen doesn't
have to break at all.

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The hymen is like a scrunchie
in function as well as in looks.

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And you can stretch a scrunchie, right?

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(Laughter)

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You can stretch a hymen, too.

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In fact, it's very elastic.

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And for a lot of women,

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the hymen will be elastic enough
to handle a vaginal intercourse

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without sustaining any damage.

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For other women, the hymen may tear a bit
to make room for the penis,

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but that won't make it disappear.

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But it may look
a bit different from before.

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NDB: So where does that leave us
with our two myths?

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Well, first of all,

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if you have an elastic hymen,

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you will simply never bleed from sex.

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It doesn't matter
if you're a virgin or not.

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It's an anatomical impossibility.

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And that is the case for half of you --

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except for the men amongst you, of course.

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(Laughter)

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So in other words,

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some virgins bleed,

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but some simply don't.

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And that's our first myth shattered.

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It naturally follows
that you can't examine the hymen

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to check for virginity status.

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This was noted over 100 years ago in 1906

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by the Norwegian doctor Marie Jeancet.

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She examined a middle-aged sex worker

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and concluded that her genitalia
were reminiscent of a teenage virgin.

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But that makes sense, right?

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Because if her hymen
was never damaged during sex,

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then what were we expecting to see?

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ESD: Since hymens come
in every shape and form,

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it difficult to know

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if a dent or a fold in it is there
because of previous damage,

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or if it's just a normal
anatomical variant.

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The absurdity of virgin testing

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is illustrated in a study
done on 36 pregnant teenagers.

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When doctors examined their hymens,

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they could only find
clear signs of penetration

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in 2 out of the 36 girls.

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So unless you believe
in 34 cases of virgin births --

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(Laughter)

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we must all agree

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that also our second myth
has taken a vital blow.

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You simply cannot look a woman
between her legs

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and read her sexual story.

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NDB: Like most myths,
the myths about the hymen are untrue.

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There is no virgin seal
that magically disappears after sex,

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and half of virgins
can easily have sex without bleeding.

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We wish we could say
that by removing these myths,

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everything would be OK,

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that shame, harm and honor killings
would all just disappear.

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But of course, it's not that simple.

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Sexual oppression of women
comes from something much deeper

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than a simple anatomical misunderstanding
about the properties of the hymen.

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It's a question of cultural and religious
control of women's sexuality.

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And that is much harder to change.

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But we must try.

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ESD: As medical professionals,
this is our contribution.

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We want every girl, parent
and coming husband to know

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what the hymen is and how it works.

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We want them to know

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that the hymen can't be used
as a proof of virginity.

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And that way, we can remove
one of the most powerful tools

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used to control young women today.

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After telling you this,

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you may wonder what the alternative is,

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for if we cannot use the hymen
as a proof of virginity for women,

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then what should we use?

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We opt for using nothing.

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(Cheering)

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If you --

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(Applause)

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If you really want to know
if a woman is a virgin or not,

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ask her.

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(Laughter)

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But how she answers
that question is her choice.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)