Old Vietnamese coins pictured couples making love. The philosophy behind these images was related to the Asian belief that the prosperity of a nation was tied to the happiness and productivity of its people. Despite this in Vietnam today girls are often carefully chaperoned and expected to be virgins on their wedding night. By contrast many men have had sex with prostitutes before marriage.
The blogger on xuvn. Young women who lose their virginity before marriage, whether through rape or in a relationship, diminish their chances for a "good" marriage, while young men can "sow wild oats" with abandon and be even admired for being so "manly". The culture and the family lets the girl know it is her responsibility to keep her virginity as soon as they are old enough to understand what virginity is. Vietnamese men are reluctant to marry a non-virgin even if they are the one who took the virginity!
Vietnamese woman may not even be forgiven if she is raped. In order to legalize sexual relations or to avoid the stigma of becoming "old maids" young Vietnamese women feel pressured into early marriages. Unlike women, young men, on the other hand, are allowed to express their sexuality freely, and are sometimes initiated by fathers who take their sons to brothels for sexual intercourse with women. In , Associated Press reported: "Vietnam has charged a former senior sports official with the alleged rape of a year-old girl in what reportedly was his attempt to rid himself of bad luck, state-controlled media.
Luong Quoc Dung, 52, former vice chairman of the sports ministry, was formally charged while at the B14 prison in Hanoi, following a six-month investigation, the official Thanh Nien Young People newspaper said.
The charge carries a maximum year jail term. State-controlled media have widely reported that Dung requested the meeting because he was experiencing a spate of bad luck and believed that having sex with a virgin would end that streak.
