From Entebbe, Uganda – The New Vision, a Uganda daily, has been a never-ending source of inspiration all week and today was no exception with the publication of two articles on bride’s and groom’s virginity at the time of tying the knot.

In all societies and since time immemorial, the bride’s virginity has been praised, sought and defended until the last minute. What was interesting in today’s articles is that they are mostly about the bride’s virginity and how important it is for the groom. Thought the second article is about the groom’s virginity, it is does not mirror the former article but is mostly concerned with the groom’s nuptial worries and fears.

Both articles reasonably describe the problem of having to have sex for the first time and comes with a vox-pop of white collar men detailing there interests in marrying a virgin bride. Two recurrent responses are that the groom “would be confident that she would stay faithful to [him]” and the second that he “would teach her what she needs to know”, one ironically adding that “experienced women are very demanding.”

Now, how and where did these men looking for a virgin bride learned what their wife-to-be needs to know? Who taught them about sex? And I don’t dare ask about woman’s pleasure?

This becomes even more interesting when considering the figures published by The New Vision about women and men’s virginity at the time of getting wed.

Indeed according to an HIV/AIDS Sero-behavioural survey of 2004-2005, released by the Ugandan Ministry of Health in March 2006, and reproduced by the newspaper, the proportion of women aged 15-19 who never had sex was 54% in 2004-05, leading to the newspaper’s conclusion that “the likelihood of virgin brides is more probable today than in 1995”, when it was only 35%. By comparison, the proportion of men aged 15-19 who never had sex had increased from 52% in 1995 to 61% in 2001, leading to the conclusion that “Most of these men are not adequately prepared to meet the challenges of marital sex for the first time.”

Figures for 2004-5 for men were not reported but the 2008 UNAIDS report on HIV/AIDS shows a similar pattern though with much lower percentages that could be explained by a difference in reporting or censing. Interestingly, these figures are against the common idea that men are more prone to have more sex than women at an earlier age.

So, who is going to teach what to whom?

However, nowhere brides are asked their views on marring a virgin groom. Nowhere are they asked why they would want to marry one. So what are this virginity and its praise all about? The promise of a wife eager to learn about sex, faithful and potentially HIV negative as suggested by one of the men interviewed? Or just about keeping women’s sexuality or simply women under men’s control?

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