Urvashi Rautela: Virginity should be a girl’s choice

Mumbai, July 18 

Model-actress Urvashi Rautela feels there is still double standards and stigma attached to the issue of virginity among women that needs to be stopped. She adds virginity testing, which is prevalent in many parts, should be stopped, too.

Urvashi’s new film “Virgin Bhanupriya” released digitally this weekend. In the film, she plays a girl who is desperate to lose her virginity to begin with.

Asked about why virginity is a parameter for judging a women’s character, Urvashi told IANS: “India is a land of contrasts. On the one hand we are the land of Kamasutra and we have temples with erotic sculptures, and on the other hand we have the whole taboo on female virginity. We have a very conservative approach on female virginity where we take virginity as a parameter to judge a girl’s character, moral value etc. In many pockets of our country, women have to go through a virginity test before marriage.”

She added: “The idea of virginity is implanted in woman in such a way that women also go through hymenorrhaphy and other procedures. So yes, it is a double standard that should be stopped. But the good thing is, people are changing and the young generation does not demand that their spouse has to be a virgin. Peer pressure should not be there to lose virginity, family or societal pressure also should not be there to shame a girl if she loses her virginity. Maintaining and losing virginity should be a (matter of) choice, not (driven by) pressure.”

“Virgin Bhanupriya” is directed by Ajay Lohan and is streaming on the OTT platform Zee5.