what's a hymen? and how does it work?

[Troy35216]

there is no other place i can ask this. in Health they said that the first time a girl has sex the penis breaks the hymen so it can hurt for the girl the first time. but then after class some of the guys said that is B.S. and just something they say to scare the girls so they won't have sex.

so first, is it true or is it B.S.? and second if it's true, what the hell? all i can think of is those Tylenol things you get at the gas station where you push the pill thru the foil thing at the back until it pops out. is that how breaking the hymen works? It's like a "foil" barrier or something that the guy's dick has to pop thru? does he just poke a hole in it or does it break off all the way or what? sorry for sounding like a total idiot but as you can tell i have zero experience with this. if there was a way to get "minus rep points" this question would do it for me. please just answer without making fun of me. thanks

[TheBassoonist]

A hymen is a membrane that surrounds or partially covers the vaginal opening, to steal a quote from Wikipedia. It's not a barrier that completely covers the vagina. The hymen isn't exclusively broken by having sex for the first time. Tampons, horseback riding, masturbating, exercise, etc. can also break the hymen.

[nick]

...after class some of the guys said that is B.S. and just something they say to scare the girls so they won't have sex.
Those guys are ignorant. It definitely exists. Traditionally it was taken as proof of virginity. It still is proof of virginity if it's intact but it doesn't prove a girl is not a virgin if it's not intact because it can be broken through physical activity such as PE or horse riding, or the girl can break it when masturbating or inserting a tampon.

In the past men would expect there to be blood on the bedsheets after the sex on their wedding night. They may well have been able to put their wife asside as a slut or a whore if there was no blood. Well those days are long gone.

This is where the phrase "popping her cherry" comes from, it means breaking her hymen.

[Mortal Coil]

A hymen is a membrane of skin that covers part of the vagina. It's not like a foil wrapper type thing, because it has a gap to allow discharge/period blood through. Some girls are born without hymens. Actually, the hymen is rarely broken during sex, but rather is stretched, which as you can imagine, does cause pain. But as someone else mentioned, often the hymen is stretched or broken long before the girl loses her virginity.