hymenology

plural hymenologies

1. The scientific study of the hymen.

   It is preferable to discuss these criteria later in the chapter, however, within the context of Greek virginity and hymenology.

   2009, Ryan Byrne, Bernadette McNary-Zak, Resurrecting the Brother of Jesus: The James Ossuary Controversy and the Quest for Religious Relics, University of North Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 146

   1 more example

   CHAPTER 3 Hymenology Given the pronounced variations in size and shape from woman to woman, perhaps it would be more accurate to identify the hymen as a site than as an anatomical part.

   2008, Hanne Blank, Virgin: The Untouched History, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, →ISBN, page 32

2. countableA treatise on the topic of the hymen.

   It may be helpful at this point to anticipate part of the argument in Chapter 1, “Hymenologies: the multiple signs of virginity.” Today, the primary physiological “sign” of virginity in women is considered to be the “unbroken” hymen; [...]

   2002, Kathleen Coyne Kelly, chapter 1, in Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages, Routledge, →ISBN

3. The scientific study of membranes in general.

   Synonyms: membranology

4. countableA treatise on the topic of membranes.

   There exist treatises on membranes or hymenologies; descriptions of membranes or hymenographies.

   2017, Jacques Derrida, Acts of Literature, Routledge, →ISBN

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   Within the various hymenologies, or treatises on membranes, one finds all three of Bacon's [models.]

   2007, Claudia Mesch, Viola Maria Michely, Joseph Beuys: The Reader, I.B.Tauris