status, property, and the value on virginity ALICE SCHLEGEL-University of Arizona One way to assess a womans autonomy is to ask whether she controls her own sexuality Thus, the prohibition on premarital sex for females is often considered a measure of mens control over women s lives. There are certain difficulties with this assumption, however. First the way a people feels about premarital sex is not necessarily consonant with its attitude toward extramarital sex, as many peoples allow premarital freedom but condemn adultery, while oth ers, such as the Lovedu(Sacks 1979), insist on premarital virginity but turn a blind eye to di creet extramarital affairs. Second, this assumption fails to recognize that in most societies, the value placed on virginity applies to adolescent girls, not to adult women with few exceptions worldwide, girls are still physically adolescent when they marry, generally within three or four years after puberty--by about 18 or younger. More important young people are generally not social adults until they marry, so that the premarital female is socially an adolescent girl. Some societies, such as our own and that of 17th-century England( Stone 1977), for example, are xceptions to this, having a stage that I call "youth"intervening between adolescence and fu adulthood. However, in most parts of the world the bride is a teenage girl who in most aspects of her life is still very much under the authority of her parents. If virginity is not, then, a very good measure of female subordination, we must look for other aspects of girls'and young women s lives that are associated with the proscription of premarital sex. One common notion is that virginity is valued when men have to""for wives by trans- ferring goods in the form of bridewealth to the women s families. This notion is based on the assumption that there is some innate preference for virgins which can be activated when men have the upper hand, so to speak, because they are paying for the bride. It must be noted, of course, that there is no universal preference for virgin brides. Such an assumption projects onto other cultures the attitudes that have developed historically in our own. moreover, the belief that when men give bridewealth they pay for virgin brides is shaken when we read in Goody (1973: 25)that dowry-giving societies, in which the bride's family pays, are generally intolerant of premarital sex for girls. Here the family pays to give, not to receive, a virgin bride. There may be some connection between marriage transactions and the value on virginity but it is not readily apparent what that connection is To illuminate this question, it is necessary to understand the varying effects that marriage transactions-the movement of goods (most usually)or services at the time of a marriage-have on the transmission or retention of property and on the social debts incurred thereby This ques- tion was addressed in Schlegel and Eloul (1987, 1988)and will be summarized here. Following This article tests and confirms the proposition that a cultural value on the virginity of girls is, in large part, a function of the form of marriage transaction. the study is based on a worldwide sample of preindustrial societies and includes an interpre- tation of the association between several forms of marriage transaction and a pre- scription of or preference for premarital female virginity. Several other explana tions for the value on virginity are also discussed. Virginity, bridewealth, dowrystatus, property, and the value on virginity ALICE SCHLEGEL-University of Arizona One way to assess a woman's autonomy is to ask whether she controls her own sexuality. Thus, the prohibition on premarital sex for females is often considered a measure of men's control over women's lives. There are certain difficulties with this assumption, however. First, the way a people feels about premarital sex is not necessarily consonant with its attitude toward extramarital sex, as many peoples allow premarital freedom but condemn adultery, while oth￾ers, such as the Lovedu (Sacks 1979), insist on premarital virginity but turn a blind eye to dis￾creet extramarital affairs. Second, this assumption fails to recognize that in most societies, the value placed on virginity applies to adolescent girls, not to adult women. With few exceptions worldwide, girls are still physically adolescent when they marry, generally within three or four years after puberty-by about 18 or younger. More important, young people are generally not social adults until they marry, so that the premarital female is socially an adolescent girl. Some societies, such as our own and that of 17th-century England (Stone 1977), for example, are exceptions to this, having a stage that I call "youth" intervening between adolescence and full adulthood. However, in most parts of the world the bride is a teenage girl who in most aspects of her life is still very much under the authority of her parents.' If virginity is not, then, a very good measure of female subordination, we must look for other aspects of girls' and young women's lives that are associated with the proscription of premarital sex. One common notion is that virginity is valued when men have to "pay" for wives by trans￾ferring goods in the form of bridewealth to the women's families. This notion is based on the assumption that there is some innate preference for virgins which can be activated when men have the upper hand, so to speak, because they are paying for the bride. It must be noted, of course, that there is no universal preference for virgin brides. Such an assumption projects onto other cultures the attitudes that have developed historically in our own. Moreover, the belief that when men give bridewealth they pay for virgin brides is shaken when we read in Goody (1973:25) that dowry-giving societies, in which the bride's family pays, are generally intolerant of premarital sex for girls. Here the family pays to give, not to receive, a virgin bride. There may be some connection between marriage transactions and the value on virginity, but it is not readily apparent what that connection is. To illuminate this question, it is necessary to understand the varying effects that marriage transactions-the movement of goods (most usually) or services at the time of a marriage-have on the transmission or retention of property and on the social debts incurred thereby. This ques￾tion was addressed in Schlegel and Eloul (1987, 1988) and will be summarized here. Following This article tests and confirms the proposition that a cultural value on the virginity of girls is, in large part, a function of the form of marriage transaction. The study is based on a worldwide sample of preindustrial societies and includes an interpre￾tation of the association between several forms of marriage transaction and a pre￾scription of or preference for premarital female virginity. Several other explana￾tions for the value on virginity are also discussed. [virginity, bridewealth, dowry, marriage transactions] the value on virginity 719