Teen magazines, sex ed class
And losing my virginity was painful. Every time I tried to have sex it was as if my vulva had been replaced by a brick wall. I remember lying in bed thinking that my vagina must be broken, or not exist or that maybe I just wasn’t meant to have sex.
After six months of banging my head (and other body parts) against that brick wall I finally very slowly and painfully had penetrative sex and 16
Let the good times roll! What followed was a very un-sexy cycle: not knowing if sex hurt because I wasn’t turned on enough, or I wasn’t turned on enough because I was worrying sex would hurt. The pain meant achieving full arousal and orgasm were difficult. These symptoms come under the umbrella term of Female Sexual Dysfunction.
Teen magazines, sex ed class and sleepover parties had left me with the idea that your hymen would be punctured and there would be inevitable oceans of blood. That was unless you’d done a lot of horse riding or gymnastics (or gymnastics on horseback, preferably whilst inserting a tampon).
And losing my virginity was painful. Every time I tried to have sex it was as if my vulva had been replaced by a brick wall. I remember lying in bed thinking that my vagina must be broken, or not exist or that maybe I just wasn’t meant to have sex. After six months of banging my head (and other body parts) against that brick wall I finally – very slowly and painfully – had penetrative sex and 16 year old me thought her vaginal woes would be over.
Let the good times roll! What followed was a very un-sexy cycle: not knowing if sex hurt because I wasn’t turned on enough, or I wasn’t turned on enough because I was worrying sex would hurt. The pain meant achieving full arousal and orgasm were difficult. These symptoms come under the umbrella term of Female Sexual Dysfunction.
