Losing Virginity is a Better Experience Now Than It Was Two Decades Back: Says Science

‘First times’ are not always fun. Ask a woman.

The experience of the very first sexual intercourse usually leaves long lasting impact on both men and women, both emotionally and physically.

It is known that women experience more negative and less pleasant feelings from their first time and they suffer heavily from immense guilt, fear and anxiety.

But things are changing fast.

The present study led by Susan Spencer from Illinois State University states that virginity loss has turned into a significantly better experience than it was 20 years ago, with less anxiety and more pleasure for both men and women.

It got published in The Journal of Sex Research.

This study took into account specific gender differences in pleasure, anxiety, and guilt in response to first intercourse and data was collected from over 5,000 students over a 23-year period ranging from 1980-2012.

Participants were mostly asked to complete a questionnaire about their fist time experience. Their pleasure, guilt, anxiety and every other emotion were studied and compared thoroughly.

The results suggest men experienced more pleasure and anxiety than women, and women suffered more guilt than men.

"According to the report by Medical Daily, anxiety decreased over the three decades for men; pleasure increased and guilt decreased for women. The positive changes are cultural, as recent cohorts of men today are less likely than cohorts of men from the 1980s and 1990s to consider their first time as a rite of passage, shedding the stigma, and leading to less performance-related anxiety. For women, Spencer believes pleasure has increased, and guilt has decreased because of a reduction of social regulation of female sexuality, and double standard, Spencer believes."

The researchers noted even though the gender differences in emotional reactions to virginity loss has decreased over time, it still happens to be a more positive experience for men than women.

Female sexuality, according to the erotic plasticity theory, gets most influenced by changes in social and cultural events.