Like A Virgin: Temptation, Resistance, and the Construction of Identities Based on “Not Doings”

摘要

Despite the attention given to what actors do, identity theorists give virtually no attention to those behaviors in which individuals do not engage, the assumption being that these acts are not influential. In this article, I use the generic case of the virgin identity to demonstrate the social construction of what I term “never identities,” a subcategory of the various identities based on not engaging in particular acts (simply, “not doings”). Through the use of fictional genre, it becomes evident that such identities are not based on absence alone, but are more about demonstrated resistance to the trials of temptation and the evaluation of these tests by others. While this article focuses on the construction of such identities under specific historical circumstances, I argue that the findings lay the groundwork for further exploration of a largely overlooked yet critical area of identity research. Future research on never identities should consider the temporal norms of such identities (e.g., the “expected stay” in such states), the degree of technical purity required, and the issue of directionality (i.e., whether one can return to such identities subsequent to exiting).