All cultures impose on their members ideas about who they are, how they came to be, and where they fit in socially. For example, pre-modern Europe believed that a woman who had sex before marriage might carry the imprint of her lover within her, so that her child born in wedlock would resemble the earlier lover, rather than the husband.
所有文化都会在人们的心里打上深刻的烙印，告诉他们自己是谁、从哪里来、怎么做才能适应社会。比如，近代欧洲流行一种观点，那就是如果一个女人婚前有过性行为，她就可能把爱人的印记留在自己体内，如果她婚后生子，小孩就可能会更像她从前的恋人，而不像现在的丈夫。这就为人们看重女性贞操找到了正当的理由。