Attending college comes with a lot of freedom. For most of us, it’s our first time living on our own away from our family, so this means that we can basically do whatever we want without our parents breathing down our backs. While college is an exciting time to mature and experience new things, it’s important to take things at your own pace.
This is especially true when it comes to something as important as your body. It’s common for people to hear stories about others losing their v-card, and as a result, you may feel pressured to do the same. However, before you jump in on “what everyone else is doing,” I want to make the case for why it’s okay to wait.
For starters, your body is sacred. You should understand your convictions for wanting to do something with it before you just full-send. This is true for things other than sex. For example, you should understand your reasons for wanting to engage in activities such as dieting or working out. Those reasons shouldn’t include the fact that you feel pressured or because everyone else is doing it. Your first time may also have a lot of emotions attached to it. After all, you’re doing something incredibly intimate with another human being, and it’s something you’ve never done before. You should make sure that you and your partner are both comfortable with this.
Also, no one is having as much as sex as you think they are. A survey done at Princeton university in 2020 revealed that “53 percent had never engaged in vaginal sex, and 88 percent had never engaged in anal sex.” That’s more than half of their campus for both statistics. Cosmopolitan also wrote on a study that revealed that “41 percent of women and 49 percent of men said they were not sexually active.” Probably because everyone’s too busy cramming for exams to get down and dirty.
If you honestly think about it, virginity has its perks. For starters, your chances of getting pregnant or getting a sexually transmitted infection are basically zero. Also, remaining a virgin gives you a chance to learn more about sexuality, sexual health and the relationship you have with your body. Remember, sex is intended to be a good thing, but you are not depriving yourself by waiting for the right moment. Plus, there are so many other ways to be intimate with people without having sex.
You’ll find that there are many people around you waiting to have sex for various reasons. Some people choose to wait because of certain religious or spiritual convictions, and others choose to wait because they want their first time to be with someone they love. If you’re not sure what your reasons are, you shouldn’t be ashamed to wait, and like I said there’s no harm in doing so.
All of this to say, I hope that you enjoy the freedom college has to offer, but I hope you don’t get too bogged down by what the world tells you to do. Don’t let the media you consume or even the friends you hang out with pressure you into something you’re not ready for or comfortable with. Your body is precious, so be gentle with it.