We agreed to try the act again at the festival, in a close semi-circle of our nearest and dearest friends nearby. It was reconciliation sex, as I’d completely fumbled my first attempt to bone only two weeks earlier in the passenger seat of her car. I like to tell people it was ‘intense’, because, yes, my friends, it was in tents. I lost my virginity at a popular rock music festival in Berkshire after I turned 19.Īt the time, it felt like I couldn’t have gone one more day without finally losing my V. And I don’t think you’re ever, truly ready for the first time you have sex anyway. But he was kind, and my aim was to lose my virginity before uni – that’s all I wanted out of it. I remember rolling over and thinking, oh god – why do people do this? But I don’t regret it. But he was trying really hard to be gentle.Īfter, he scurried off to the bathroom and asked me if I needed any tissue – which at the time I didn’t understand at all, and I was like… ‘no?’ He asked me – ‘am I hurting you?’ and through gritted teeth I said, ‘nope!’. I feel like I knew it was going to happen that night, but I also remember I was wearing a pair of Snoopy knickers so I can’t have been that prepared. I didn’t fancy him, but I didn’t really fancy any boys at that point – that came later – I just felt like I was supposed to have a boyfriend and be going on dates, and he was always really nice to me. He was 24 – which looking back, is way too old to be dating a 17/18 year old – but he had a car and a job and he would get me in to clubs. I had been seeing my boyfriend at the time for about three months. I had just turned 18 and was desperate to lose it before I went to university. The only thing that changed was that I was swiftly put on the pill right as I turned 16, despite not dishing all the dirty deets to my mother previously… so perhaps mum was wiser to any differences in how I acted. I didn’t feel like I’d changed in any way.

And then it was over and we were like, ‘cool’. It didn’t hurt (we even checked for the telltale blood on the bed… nothing). He already had a condom handy, because he was a 15-year-old boy keen to have sex, and it was really quite a nothing act. We had to do the ‘sneak into one another’s guest rooms’ as we were not allowed to share a bed. School’s warning after ‘child had stomach pumped after drinking Prime Energy’ It was in bed, with a girlfriend, tried a bit of sex, that was it. I don’t really remember it, to be honest. It doesn’t need to be super romantic or done in the perfect way, it’s just a physical act that you’ll likely go on to do many more times with other people. As long as you’re ready and it’s consensual, go right ahead. I don’t think sex for the first time needs to be a huge deal. I wanted to have sex, I had sex, then I was able to date without that internal pressure of needing to not be a virgin anymore.

I don’t really regret it because it hasn’t had a horrible emotionally scarring effect on me (as far as I know). I did a lot of things that I wouldn’t have been comfortable with if I had been sober. I was definitely ready, but the set-up was not healthy. I ended up having sex for the first time with someone I hated while off my face on mephedrone (remember when that was legal?). I’d done other bits with a boyfriend, but we broke up before we actually went all the way, so I wanted to just get it over and done with. I come from a culture where sex before marriage is frowned upon – so I waited and waited, and was like: is this it? It wasn’t worth waiting for.Īt 17, I was the last one of my friendship group to have sex. I wanted it to be with someone I didn’t love – it was all about the act, not the emotions. I don’t regret it – for me it was just to get it out of the way. It was the right time in my head as I was fed up of not being sexually active – I wanted to know if I was missing anything Happy to say things improved later down the line and am in a happy and satisfying relationship now. Never slept with him again and it put me off trying again. He also smelled of nothing – like literally no scent at all – and it was all I could focus on the whole time. I lost my virginity aged 30 and it was with a guy I’d met on Tinder – it was painful, uncomfortable and forgettable. It was forgettable! I was so nervous that I didn’t come. We weren’t drinking or anything as far as I can remember. Relationship is probably too strong a word but we knew each other. I was 16 and it happened at Newmarket Racecourse. To find out more about the reality of having sex for the first time – and to hear people’s regrets – we asked a bunch of Brits to share their tales.

My first time storys