'Virginity is a myth we've given too much power'

'Virginity is a myth we've given too much power'Image source, Roberto Ricciuti/GettyImage caption, Hollie McNish says she has always found the concept of virginity "weird and kind of frightening"ByCharlie JonesReporting fromLatitude FestivalPublished2 hours agoWhen the poet Hollie McNish lost her virginity at the age of 19, she stared at her face in the mirror for half an hour, expecting some sort of transformation.She wondered how to stand like a non-virgin so her family would not guess, and worried her parents were looking at her weirdly across the dinner table, while they all ate mashed potato.The word virgin might only have six letters, but not many other words carry as much power, she says."Virgin is my least favourite word in the English language," she tells an audience of hundreds at Latitude Festival, in Suffolk."Life is full of first times but nothing else is sold as being powerful enough to change our entire state of being - from virgin to non-virgin."The concept of virginity, and love in general, are the focus of the the 43-year-old's latest collection, Virgin.Image caption, McNish won the Ted Hughes Award for her book Nobody Told Me, a collection of diary entries she kept from the moment she discovered she was pregnant until her daughter was threeMcNish, who lives in Cambridge with her 16-year-old daughter, first heard the word aged five, performing in her school nativity. "I knew it was virginity that made Mary special. Joseph's virginity was never mentioned."I've always found it weird and kind of frightening the way we speak about this concept."The question "have you lost your virginity yet?" was a recurring one with friends throughout her teens.McNish says virginity is a man-made myth created by those in power, in times that "also spoke positively of slavery and stoning".It has been used across cultures to control, shame, praise, and define people, especiall...