Hi Autumn_leaves,
If I understand correctly, are you asking why the hymen/corona can wear away on its own? If I am correct, I'd like to redirect you back to the articles Mikky has shared in their reply. In the advice column
Seriously, enough with the fruit already, these are the reasons the hymen wears away:
For the most part, all people with vaginas are born with a hymen (also called the vagina corona), even though the appearance of the hymen and the vulva can vary a whole lot, and it sits just behind the vaginal opening and, at birth, usually covers it. As a person with a vagina grows, the hymen slowly wears away. It contains small holes and perforations called hymenal orifices, and over time those openings expand more and more, due to vaginal discharges, hormones, menstrual flow, general physical activity (one doesn’t have to be a soccer player), and yes, also due to any sort of vaginal sex, including masturbation, if and when that occurs. Vaginal intercourse or manual sex with vaginal entry does tend to further that process, but not by popping anything. That tissue, being so thin, and being without nerve endings of its own, tends to be very flexible, so save when we are talking about forced intercourse or other sex, or genital injury, a penis or fingers will just wear it away more and more over time. Eventually, there will only be traces of it around the edges just inside the vaginal opening: sometimes those are easy to see or discern, sometimes they blend pretty seamlessly into the rest of the tissue of that area.
Here's another from an advice column called
Why hasn't my cherry popped?:
A hymen is NOT located deep inside the vagina (where romance novels would often have us believe it is). Instead, it’s nothing more than a thin membrane across the opening of the vaginal canal. Not only that, but the hymen is not a solid sheet. It’s made up of folds and has some holes. The holes will typically be different in size depending upon how much of the vaginal corona has worn away, which is influenced by a host of factors like a person’s age, level of activity, sexual activity (like masturbation), tampon usage, etc.
Now that we’re hopefully clearer on what a hymen really is, let’s move on to who has one. First off, not every person with a vagina has a hymen, period. There are people with vaginas who are born without them. Beyond that, it’s not uncommon for one’s hymen to stretch and wear away through adolescence due to things like physical activity, accidents or trauma, tampon usage, masturbation, etc. So many, many women don’t have much of a hymen left by the time they first become sexually active at all. Typically, what is left of one’s hymen will have many holes and openings or may only be a slight residual ring around the vaginal opening.
So, in other words, there are lots of factors that can influence the wearing away of the hymen/corona. In most cases, the hymen isn't thick and resilient. But there are some exceptions:
In rarer cases, there are some people who may have a stubborn hymen that prevents insertion of anything or (even more rarely) does not allow for the passage of menstrual fluid. For these people, a simple, in office procedure by a gynecologist can solve the problem. In this instance, the hymen is snipped away to allow for comfortable insertion.
(From the "Why hasn't my cherry popped?" advice column)
The hymen is made up of thin folds of tissue that, when we’re young, mostly covers the vaginal opening. It’s right there in front, so when we have one – or even part of one – with the simple use of a hand mirror, we can take a look at it. It doesn’t have any nerve endings of its own, though it’s connected to the vaginal opening, which does have nerve endings.
As we get older, and start puberty, the hymen starts to slowly and gradually wear away, through a whole lot of things: via hormones (namely estrogens), vaginal fluids and menstruation, general physical activity, tampon use, masturbation and yep, partnered vaginal sex. At first there are just very small openings, or tiny holes, in that tissue. Over time, those holes become bigger and bigger, and eventually, in most people with vaginas, the hymen wears away so much that only tiny portions of it remain, just behind the vaginal opening.
Like anything else on the body, the hymen can vary between people. For some, that tissue is a bit thicker than for others; for some, that hymen is more resilient – or tougher – than for others. For a minority of people with vaginas, the hymen doesn’t wear away as it should at all, in which case vaginal entry or intercourse will be all but impossible, and for those people, attempts at such WILL generally be very painful because of the hymen, and they’ll need to have a very simple and painless procedure done called a hymenectomy, by their doctor.
(From the "And more with the popping of cherries." advice column)
Does this answer your follow-up question? If I understood differently, feel free to clarify!
