Hollie McNish's 'Virgin' challenges the myth of virginity

Poet Hollie McNish has released a new poetry collection titled 'Virgin,' which critiques the concept of virginity as a man-made myth used to control and shame, particularly women. McNish, who won the Ted Hughes Award for her book 'Nobody Told Me,' performed at Latitude Festival in Suffolk, where she described 'virgin' as her least favorite word. The collection includes poems about sending nudes, second-hand bookshops, and croissants, as well as a piece called 'Call Me' addressed to her 16-year-old daughter. McNish, who lives in Cambridge, first encountered the word at age five during a school nativity play. She argues that virginity is an invented idea with no physical reality, stating, 'I lost nothing except a sandal' after her first sexual experience. The poet, who studied modern and medieval languages and economics at the University of Cambridge, began writing poetry again after graduation and now reaches millions through books, performances, and social media. She has faced snobbery in the poetry world, with her work sometimes dismissed as 'basic' or labeled as Instagram poetry, but she continues to write poems that reflect her thoughts verbatim.