Tag Archives: virginity

Is it over? Am I finally comfortable with men? Is my virginity next?

First of all, I hooked up with someone else last night. What is happening to me??
Back when I was here two years ago, I was at my highest weight point. I befriended two of my best friend’s male friends and we all became pretty tight. The problem was that one of these boys (I call him Six Pack… it should be obvious why) was an ex-boyfriend of another close friend (who I had stopped talking to). I’ve never been one for leftovers and, as I’ve discussed before, I feel weird feeling that way about my friends’ boyfriends and ex-boyfriends. We were continually flirting back then.
Fast forward to this trip and I’m about 70 lbs lighter. The flirty thing is still going on and last time, after the disaster date, he made me feel better (we cuddled all night). I knew he wanted to kiss me but I was feeling upset about the date so I avoided it. I also know that my best friend hooked up with him in December so that was a turn off.
Last night, I liquored myself up pretty well and basically threw myself at him (he was sober). He’s a known player and I didn’t see any harm in it. He asked me how often I’d thought of us together. I lied by telling him it was twice. Then he told me he wanted to take me to his place- at which point I disclosed that I was a virgin and that I’d only ever made out with a handful of people. He was a little shocked about my sexual inexperience. Later, he asked me if I thought I’d ever let him go further. I told him I might but it would take time (time that I don’t really have). To be truthful, I might have let him go further. I’ve always told myself that if I’d never have a chance to do it with a lover, I’d do it with a friend. My best friend was close by though and she told him that he couldn’t take me home for the v-card reason.
He took it well. He backed off a little… I didn’t really let him. I was literally kissing him whenever someone wasn’t looking. But I ran away from the goodbye kiss for no reason whatsoever. I still think of him as a really good friend. Or, I’m trying to anyway.
The problem is that Six Pack and I don’t really have a future. I can’t take him seriously and he won’t go for me. The actual kissing was the best of the lot. My friend told me that he was an okay kisser. I thought he was great. Maybe it had something to do with all the sexual tension that’s been building up.
So anyway, back to were we started… I am not myself.
Look at me. This is my third makeout session in the past two weeks. I usually go years without experiencing any intimacy whatsoever. I can count the times I’ve touched lips with a guy on my fingers. I’m serious. I listed them for you guys.
This is where I was at a few months ago. Hell, not even in May, this is how I felt last month. I’m the girl who gets no action whatsoever ever. So what’s happening? What has changed?
I don’t know but what I do know at least is that I’m comfortable with kissing. I’ve always cut short kisses with men because I thought I don’t know how to make out. Now I know that I do although I think I may be too rough- both the Astronomer and Six Pack said it. So maybe I need to be more gentle and let the guy take the lead but… I’ll end it with the details there. Point: I don’t feel as nervous about the concept of making out… which is mind blowing to me! If you told me around Christmastime that I could make out with a guy and it would be nothing, I wouldn’t have believed you. I mean really? Could I have defeated the social cue demon? I can only dare to hope.
My worry is that this is happening because I’m in a different country. I’m afraid that this may be the case. I’m afraid that I’ll go home and I’ll be loveless again. I’m afraid that I’m still not attractive enough and that this is just a phase. Because when you look at it, all but one of the times I’ve hooked up with someone, I was on vacation. I really hope it’s more than that. I hope this is a life changer.
What I do know is that I am considering my incel status not applicable anymore… for now, at least.

Links on loving yourself, Hugh Hefner, virginity sniffing animals and anti-obesity activists

In honour of valetine’s day, I’m doing a special link session to any and all interesting articles pertaining to singles, virginity and anything that I’ve been sticking in my bookmarks to share with you guys. It’s time to unload- and what’s a better day than today?

On being single on valentine’s day
I’m find a lot of helpful posts for singles who are finding it hard to cope today so I thought I’d add some links to my favourite ones and see if they can perk you up a bit:
Be Thankful | The Birds and the Beezies
How to Be Single on Valentine’s Day | The Dating Optimist
Surviving Being Single on Valentine’s Day | Single City Guy
Love Yourself This Valentine’s Day | Carls Bad Patch

On losing your virginity
From the meaning of losing the v-card to experiences of doing so to funny posts about when to lose it and when the man himself lost it (22! Can you believe it?)
Swiping the V-Card | College Candy
The 30-Year-Old Virgins | Salon.com
5 TV-inspired ways to lose your virginity | Student Life (U-Dub)
How Hef Got His Groove Back | The New York Times

About society and virginity
General articles about virginity and science, trends and what they mean in a global context
30-Something Mormon Poet’s Take On… | via Never Had A Boyfriend
Hymenplasty and the obsession with virginity | Iowa State Daily
Is virginity the new sexual trend? | redandblack.com (UGA)
Male animals can ‘smell’ virginity | Sify.com

About body image and self-esteem
I love the first article- does everyone agree when you say “she’s a 10″?
Beauty is not a spectrum | Eat The Damn Cake
Princess Politics | The Boston Globe
7 Tips to Dress Your New Body… Image | WebMD
Meet an anti-obesity activist | CNN Video

P.S. Quite a few of these links were found on the incel forums. For more information, see this post.
P.P.S. I’m always on the lookout of interesting articles relating to virginity and women who haven’t been in relationships. I would absolutely love to post anything you have found so if you think there’s something we should be taking a look at, please comment with it or email me at girlslashwoman[at]gmail[dot]com.

Back to my life

So I haven’t really updated you guys on what’s going on in my own life in a while. I’m consciously trying to put Frodo out of my mind which is working out nicely so far. I went to the first week of school- there’s two cute guys in two different classes (maybe three). I talked to one of them a few days ago and called him by the wrong name (yikes). I sense that the second one is interested because I’m the only person in that class who bothers socializing with the people around me but it’s sketchy- but I catch him looking at me once every class and after that, he seems to deliberately avoids my gaze although he always looks up whenever I talk to anyone around him. Weird (he’s so hot).
Other than that, I’m getting into a dangerous situation with an ex-boyfriend of a friend who are both gems but they hate each other and my friend is not amused that I’m talking to him. They broke up while I was away and I never wanted to know what happened. I became closer friends with him after the break up (we were never great friends before). He’s super cute too and though I could imagine banging him (yes, that cute), we have nothing in common and I’d never date him. I made the mistake of getting drunk this summer and telling him how hot I thought he was. He’s been hitting on me ever since- even in the presence of his ex-girlfriend which is so uncomfortable. But I’m sticking to the chicks b4 dicks rule even though I’m fairly sure she wouldn’t do the same for me- plus, let’s get real. What am I going to do with him? An inebriated make out session? Yay to making things even more uncomfortable.
Why do these things always happen to me?

This blog has churned out a few really great “relevant links” posts in the past month. But here’s some more for ya…
I was doing an interview with Rachel Hills. She’s a journalist who has really focused in on modern sexuality and the dating scene. While reading through her blog, there were few posts on late virginity and singlehood that I thought you guys should check out:
The ‘V’ Word
Single figures
Why it pays to be picky
Defeat the fear that keeps you single
—-
The Dude on College Candy answers the question:
Can A Virgin Ever Find Love?

The pro’s of being a virgin: here’s one you didn’t think of

Hey, you’re still a virgin. Shit happens. But it’s not so bad. At least you’re not carrying the DNA of any previous lovers around in you.

There remains a possibility, however remote, that cells from a lover may pass be transmitted during sex. Those cells may hang out forever in the recipient’s body, taking residence in any organ. These cells are the imprint of lovers past, a trace of living history.

I seriously need to see this study before I buy into it but hah, this is just gross.  There’s a thing I don’t have to worry about.
P.S. Ladies (and gents), if you ever do get around to losing it. Jena is right. For the love of your own DNA, please use protection.

This is what a virgin looks like

You don’t look like a virgin- is the response I recently received from a male friend who I confided in. It echoed the sentiments of some coworkers a few years ago who claimed that I didn’t “seem like a virgin”. Well, I’m sorry to break it to ya but…
It’s funny how quickly ideas change. Once we get into college, people stop being virgins… but if you’re still a virgin, you’re subject to scrutiny. And this is what I wanted to talk about.
I’m finding that the men of yesterday had a completely different view of what a female virgin looked like compared to their modern counterparts- and surprisingly, their former kind of had it right.
Virgins back in the day: Virginity was the status quo and that’s why there wasn’t really a perfect picture of what a virgin looked like. All women were supposed to be virgins so the modest, chaste representations associated with virginity were modeled by virgins and non-virgins alike.
Virgins today: Modern men have a few extremely different conceptions of what a virgin is. They’re mostly all based on popular culture and widespread assumptions about female sexuality and relationships.

The Bible Thumping Virgin
When I’m asked why I’m a virgin- people often assume that it’s because of my religious beliefs (maybe because I’m brown). This is partially true- my heritage has strongly influenced my relations with men but it doesn’t really effect my decision to date anyone.
Girls in this class are off limits to the average guy. He figures that she’s saving it for marriage and that he doesn’t have a chance at all.

The Feminist Virgin
He doesn’t think he has a chance with this one either. After all, she hates men. That’s why she doesn’t want to give it up to one, right? (she’s probably a lesbian anyway)


The Ugly/Fat Virgin
Of course he wouldn’t want this one… and it explains why no one else would want her either. This is the one who “looks like a virgin”.


The Socially Inept Geekvirgin
Well, she’s a hermit and she never leaves so she obviously can’t find any men to have sex with. He figures she’s probably doable if she gets a little drunk and since female geeks are obviously petite (not much time to eat food when they’re busy programming computers), they could be a good lay (albeit inexperienced).


The Hot Virgin
Welcome to the virgin they have all been waiting for. Beautiful, pure, adoring, doe-eyed and ready to give it up to a worthy male. Guys love fantasizing about this sort of virgin (since she’d immediately recognize them as a worthy male). She’s gorgeous, STD-free and willing to follow directions like a puppy. Isn’t that what every guy dreams of?


The virgin reality check: So to all those wondering about what a virgin looks like, guess what? None of the above.
Virgins look like any other girl (blonde, brunette, pretty, ugly, chubby, skinny), act like any other girl (flirty, shy, outgoing, brave, adventurous, prudish) , are interested in different things (hiking, reading, clubbing, anime, drinking) and haven’t lost it yet for different reasons (wrong guys, too concentrated on school/work/dance, have body image problems, never got that far).
We all have different levels of sexual experiences and different ideas about what our virginity means to us. You can’t tell whether I’m a virgin or not by looking at your face just like I can’t tell your penis size by measuring the gap between your forefinger and thumb. So can we stop with all the stereotyping?

Regretting the V-loss

There was a post today on one of my favourite websites about losing your virginity and regretting it that I wanted to share with you
Out of the two dozen people that I’ve talked to in person, I only know of a few who actually enjoyed it and wouldn’t have done it any other way. Like I’ve said before, my “virginity problem” consists of more than just my physical virginity itself, however, I’m not totally immune to the process in which I’ll eventually lose it. I just hope it will be bearable.
Anyway, the author goes through a pretty emotionally wrecking experience and I feel badly for her or anyone who has gone through anything similar.

I’m a white swan

If you have me on twitter, you know how desperately I’ve wanted to see Black Swan. Well, I finally saw it last week and I was absolutely amazed. I could really relate to Nina near the beginning of the movie- she reminded me of myself when I was younger. Sweet, meek and not entirely able to relate to many people around her- including men.
Someone else on twitter posted a question towards the lines of whether we saw ourselves as black swans or white swans. I definitely see myself as the white swan. There’s a strong correlation between ‘white’ and virginity but Nina’s whole attitude encapsulated the white swan- timid, sexually inexperienced but extremely passionate. The black swan, on the other hand was more like the character played by Mila Kunis. She’s sexy, sensual but also passionate in a completely different way. I’m trying not to spoil the whole movie for you so I’ll leave it at that and give you a little scene that I thought was interesting.
Basically, Nina’s dance instructor is having a conversation with her. He is concerned about her portrayal of the black swan and asks her if she has a boyfriend. Nina replies in the negative. He asks her if she’s a virgin. Nina smiles and shakes her head.
First of all, I thought that was odd. How would Nina ever be able to handle a sexual relationship when she’s so… awkward. I think Aronofsky dropped the ball on that one, he should have left her a virgin.
Secondly, the teacher’s reaction to this was interesting too. After she shook her head, he said “well, then you have nothing to be ashamed of” and I thought it was so typical of people. They really do think that virgins of a certain age (lets say 20 or 21) should be ashamed of the fact that they’ve never had sex.
But why?
Many men are absolutely disgusted when you have more that X number of sexual partners but it’s also bad if you don’t have enough sexual partners. As in no sexual partners.
You have to agree that men don’t like virgins. As much as their primal instincts want them to be the first ones to get there, they’re more worried about us being clingly freaks with no capacity for emotional relationships with men. If you tell a guy you’re a virgin within the first three dates, he won’t want to have much else to do with you.
That’s the problem right there. I’m nervous because I have a huge obstacle waiting for me if I ever start dating someone. At some point, he’s going to expect sex. It will probably be before we start connecting on a very deep level because that’s really how relationships work these days.
And I’ll have to tell him that I’ve never had sex and… then I’ll have to explain why. Because if I don’t, he’ll probably revert to the clingly freak frame of thinking and then I’m left in the dust… unless I come up with a good enough reason for why I’m a virgin.
So I could be honest and tell him that it’s because I’m waiting for someone important to me (which could go either way) and the reason I never found anyone good before was because I was…
1. Fat
2. Insecure
3. In love with a guy who didn’t like me
4. Emotionally unavailable
5. Good at rejecting men because I was afraid
All of those look as bad, or as nearly bad, as me being a clingy freak. But that’s not the only problem. The problem is that these are just possible reasons for why I haven’t been in a relationship because I don’t know why I’m a virgin. I really don’t.
Hell, I could blame the dating scene, the lack of available men, my busy life… but I don’t know whether that’s true or not and if I even do find someone I want to be with, I want to be able to be honest with them.
So if I were to start dating someone right now and he asked me about it, the best thing I can say is “your guess is mine”

“So-and-so will have sex with you”

It’s the response I’d usually get when I told people about my “problem”
In real life and on this blog too. I don’t think people realize what the problem here is. The problem is not that my hymen is intact or that I’ve never had physical sex. It’s more about being single, about being never-not-single. The virginity part is real but the bigger part of the problem is that I’m a relationship virgin. Would losing my virginity solve anything?
Absolutely not. I could run over to a dive bar and have sex with a random. The problem is still there.
I don’t think people really understand that. Correct me if I’m wrong but having my cherry popped probably isn’t going to open the floodgates to a rush of love and affection from men. And I’m not making assumptions here. I know it’s not true.
Let’s refer to the American Virgin for this one, Sarah who had sex with a friend of a friend who found meaning in the encounter but it didn’t change her life. Another blogger, Chloe, had a long running blog centering around her virginity and even when she lost it, she felt hopeless about love. Even VS, the is-she-or-is-she-not-a-fake-virgin found that her virginity isn’t a big deal.
The act of deflowering is not a big deal
We’re still stuck with all these ideas about virginity and how it’s supposed to change you. Shouldn’t we know better by now? I mean, most of these people who dismiss my virginity as a problem easily solved have had sex before. They should realize it before anyone.
As an older-than-average virgin, I lie in this vague area. I know about sex but I’m not sexually experienced per se. I’m still looking for love so I can identify with single bloggers. Where I fail to identify with them is in the fact that I haven’t had been in “requited” love. That’s where I can connect with single women who may or may not have had sex but are having a hard time finding men or being in a relationship with them.
My cherry has little else to do with it.

P.S. Fiddled around with my blog layout for the first time in a year. It feels so strange.
P.P.S. There’s a post on College Candy concerning talking about whether you’re sexually active or not that some of you may find interesting. Apparently, in volcanic terms, I’m extinct :)

The Virgin Diaries

It isn’t often that I hit up my favourite websites and find a post on virginity that I take something away from. It’s even less often that I find a whole stream of posts about the subject. I love my V‘s a lot but it’s always nice to add new dialogue to the conversation.
Enter Em&Lo and Katherine Chen and her series, the Virgin Diaries.
What interested me most about her posts is the comments. The readers on Em&Lo are predominantly there to read about “sex.love.and everything in between” as per the byline of the site- well, when you’re a virgin, there’s Love… and not a whole lot else. So most of comments are from people who are sexually active. Here are a few running themes that I wanted to address…
1. Disbelief over the idea that virgins aren’t innocent and inexperienced
One comment compared a virgin to a wine connoisseur who had never tasted wine but read all about it- apparently, this guy didn’t really know wine because he never really tasted it. Which is true but only up to a certain extent- I’d say he knows a hell lot more about wine than the average housewife who downs a bottle per sitting.
2. Disbelief over the idea that virgins could have some insight about sex
This seems to seed from the fact that many of these people are recalling their own v-card loss when thinking of the author. Katherine Chen isn’t a 16 year old cheerleader- she’s an older virgin. Being an older virgin, she has spent a lot of time learning about sex. In fact, she’s probably spent more time researching it than most people have had doing it. The fact that I know more about sex and relationships than most my friends is an irony that isn’t lost on them. I kind of compare it to the woman with A cups who is continually striving to be a D. She knows more about boobs and breast augmentation than most naturally gifted ladies.
3. The resentment
This is the best part and I hear it every time the subject of virginity is brought up. A lot of single women or those who haven’t been in satisfying sexual relationships have a way of berating virgins to the point that it almost seems like they are jealous of them. It especially comes to light when I read stories about hymen reconstruction and the glorification of virgins in traditional culture. These women start seething. It’s almost depressing to read. Kind of like a skinny person stuck in the middle of a fat acceptance rally. You’re trying to love yourself and you know that a lot of people do love you too but it’s hard to feel that way when everyone in your vicinity thinks you’re worthless based on something that you feel insecure about.
What I absolutely loved was that Em&Lo countered this with a comment in the following post that replied to another comment calling partnered sex and a “virgin’s masturbatory fumbling” to Mouton Rothschild 1945 to grape kool aid with a shot of stolen liquor (I was more taken aback that the commenter seems to have such a modest view of her sexual prowess… well, she’s either saying that or she’s saying any drunk college hookup is comparable to a very good wine).
Anyway, here’s the response…
We don’t buy the Kool Aid plus shot analogy. We like to think that this site can present a really broad range of stories and voices, and we happen to think that Katherine has a unique perspective. This country (and not just the far right) has such a screwed up notion of virginity and “purity” and being tainted and all that crap. Katherine approaches her virginity in a totally different way, and we think that following her journey (as one story among many MANY others on this site) is fascinating.
P.S.: For the record, one of the reasons that we decided to gather all Katherine’s columns under the umbrella title The Virgin Diaries is that we realize that the fact that she is a virgin is relevant and important to know when you read her take on ANY topic relating to sex. Meaning, we understand that her take is necessarily different from the take of someone who has had sex.

I think that’s absolutely awesome and I highly encourage you guys to go check it out. The latest post is the Con’s of Virginity (but wait, there’s pro’s too).

WordPress Rule #54

When writing a reply to comments on a previous post, consider writing a new entry when it starts exceeding 500 words to spare the inboxes of those who don’t actually give a shit.
So contrary to popular belief, my vagina is not a man-magnet. It is not psychic, it cannot transfer the powers of Christ unto me and it really can’t make a decent tuna sandwich either. Also, my v-card doesn’t double as a bus pass… or a credit card to my own disappointment. Sadly, neither are useful tools to find a boyfriend although one is pretty helpful  when substituting as a can opener (don’t guess which).
Re: Being in a relationship. I realize that relationships are shit. 
Mine will probably be shit. But once in a while, I’ll find a couple that are perfect for each other. I realize that my chances of being in a relationship are not so good in the first place, forget an ideal one, but my simple brain somehow still believes that when I find a guy, he’ll be **the one**** (just going to keep adding stars to emphasize the oneness of him) I don’t know why I’ve deluded myself into thinking this. Blame Disney y’know… when all else fails.
But yeah, you guys are right. I do need to learn how to throw a brother a bone- as flesh-packed as my bones are- if I ever want to get laid I guess (which I don’t really but everyone else seems really fixated on it). It’s just that every time I’ve hooked up with a guy, no matter how friendly or well we got on, I always feel grossed out the next day. On the same train of thought though, I’ve never hooked up with a friend so I don’t know if it would feel better. If anything, it would be more awkward the next day but at least I wouldn’t feel like a skank. I know my friends are trying to help but it just seems a little degrading, the way they’re treating it these days. Oh poor G will never get a chance, maybe this time it’ll work? I guess they don’t understand that I’m not like them and I can’t treat a romantic encounter very casually- as lame as it may make me sound. I’m just straight up uncomfortable.
While I was in Vegas, I kind of stole this guy’s VIP table. He seemed really cool with it though but he was also drunk as hell and 30. His situation was something straight out of The Hangover, he was at a friend’s stag and one of their party was in prison. They had all left them there. So I kind of adopted him into our group and danced with him, he protected me from these psychos having a fight etc. Later on, my friend told me that we were acting so cute and that we should have made out. Okay, I’ll give her the fact that he seemed more my type than any other guy I’ve ever talked to at a club but I don’t know- I was pretty drunk too but I didn’t want to take advantage of the poor sap and secondly, yeah he was too old. I told her that I just “wasn’t like that”. I guess that applies to everything. “It’s just not me”, “I’m not that kind of girl”, I guess I really am not but like, so what if I hooked up with him? Why do I need to put so much pressure on one little thing? Because I’ll regret it? Because he’ll regret it? I was never ever going to see this guy again and I still wasn’t down.
I like, define the word: frigid bitch.