Intercourse, by: Andrea Dworkin - Feminish

which she wore as men did, she was doubly inaccessible,closed off: genitally private. The clothes characterized her virginityas militant: hostile to men who would want her for sexand hostile to female status altogether. The Inquisition didnot honor Joan’s virginity: it was barely mentioned at her trial,except by her. The Inquisition did not accept Joan’s virginityas evidence of her love of God as it would indisputably acceptvirginity in feminine dress. Instead, her physical integrity emphasizedby these clothes repelled these real Christian men—not soldiers but priests and judges in flowing robes, longdresses. Though Joan was examined while held captive by theBurgundians to see whether she was a virgin, the subject ofvirginity was avoided by the Inquisitors. A virgin could notmake a pact with the devil; but Joan would be convicted as awitch. Her male clothing became the focus of their sexual obsessionwith her: ridding her of it became synonymous withbreaking her literally and metaphorically; making her femalesubmissive.In her recantation, she was forced to accuse herselfof wearing “ [cjlothes dissolute, mis-shapen and indecent,against natural decency. ”44Jean Massieu, who read her recantationaloud to her before she signed it, recalled that “it notedthat in the future she would no longer carry arms nor wearman’s clothes, nor shorn hair. . . ”45Indeed, it is unlikely that Joan was physically a virgin becauseof the extreme athleticism of her soldiering. It is knownthat she never menstruated, probably for the same reason(Marina Warner suggests anorexia nervosa as the reason;Joan’s physical strength and her willingness to wear heavy,bulky armor, in my opinion, make this impossible). The examination,manual and visual by women, would be unlikely todiscern the presence or absence of the hymen. The women as­