Revealed Jaw-Dropping Stories About How People Lost Their Virginity Over The Past 80 Years

Awkward, clumsy, painful, most of us would rather forget the first time we had sex.

But 28 honest contributors have shared their very personal stories of how they lost their virginity.

From the man born with arms that stop at his elbows, to the couple who had sex in the 1950s and married 32 years later, to the woman who was drugged, it's all in Losing It: How We Popped Our Cherry Over The Last 80 Years, by British author Kate Monro.

Kate, from West London, says everyone who has had sex has a personal and intriguing story.

She was intrigued about the cultural and historical differences and talked to men and women, of all ages, from all over the world.

I once interviewed a woman of 101 who lost her virginity in the 1930's,' Kate tells Mail Online.

'She could absolutely be forgiven for not remembering the precise moment of her virginity loss because it was so long ago but one thing she was 100% certain about was this: it was before she got married. 

'We imagine that the older generation were all so Victorian in their attitudes towards sex but its simply not true. Some were and some weren't.

'What intrigued me was the idea of exploring recent history via the first person stories of lost virginity.

'Ask someone who lost their virginity in the 1940's and someone else who lost theirs in the 90's and you will hear two very different stories. 

'In between those two events, you will see the introduction of the contraceptive pill in the 1960's and the enormous impact that had on the lives of women, then and today. Its been a fascinating journey.'

Here, Kate shares some of the stories from her fascinating book, Losing It: How We Popped Our Cherry Over The Last 80 Years, which is available now.

'Learning how to go down on women was a huge step forward for me': Charlie Thomas, born in 1962, was a victim of thalidomide. His arms that finish at his elbows.

'It was the late seventies, she was the daughter of one of these lesbian couplings and she was called Stella. Stella had huge bosoms, reeked of ‘teenage’ and sashayed down the hall in a way that stopped everybody in their tracks.

'Cut forward a couple of months we were almost officially girlfriend and boyfriend. One day, in her bedroom, with her mum downstairs, one thing led to another and she lay down and opened her legs.

'I sort of got on top of her, I had no notion of foreplay or anything like that and I managed to put it in her with a little bit of assistance, and then I started putting it in and out and in and out again.

'And I remember thinking, "Is that it? Is this what I’ve been waiting for? Because this is shit! This is nothing!" I didn’t come either, so I didn’t really understand the feeling that can go with it. I’d done the act but I didn’t have the feeling.

'It wasn’t long after that that we were doing it every night. I had a lot of partners over the years because I was in rock-and-roll bands and I was shagging everything I could get my hands on. 

'Some moves were not an option to me, because of the disability stuff; there were some areas that I literally could not reach. So I became damn good at oral sex to make up for that. Making the leap and learning how to go down on women was a huge step forward for me because then I could absolutely guarantee their pleasure.'

'I ended up in hospital': Taylor, from Pennsylvania, US, was born 1981. He lost virginity first week of August, 1997, aged 15.

'One Friday after work I met Sarah at her house. We ate together, drank a bit of wine, watched TV, made out and eventually ended up undressed on the couch. I should point out that this couch was a beige leather-clad monstrosity that had a large glass topped coffee table positioned in front of it.

'At first I was so nervous I couldn't keep an erection for more than a couple minutes. We lay together, cuddling for a while before trying again. 

'Sarah insisted I be on top. I tried to penetrate her a couple times and, on the third try I got in a little deeper and tried shifting my knee, only to have it slip off the couch.

'I fell sideways, banging the ol' family jewels on the edge uncovered by cushions and slashed my scalp open on the corner of the glass coffee table. Sarah peered over the edge of the couch, caught in uncontrollable laughter, which made me start laughing. 

'It took me a minute or two to realize my head was bleeding quite a bit. Off to the local medical clinic we went, her driving faster than the speed limit, me holding a kitchen towel to my head, both of us breaking out in fits of giggles. 

'It only required two stitches and we were back at her house within two hours.'

'My friend was drugged':  For Samantha, 23 from the US,her first time wasn't the romantic notion she thought it would be.

'Me and my best friend were the funny, likable, frumpy girls in high school. Popular but not sexy like the dancers, we made friends of boys rather than lovers. 

'We lived in a small town about an hour away from the city. When we were 16, we jumped on the bus one Monday night and head to the city. We thought it would be exiting and full of passionate embraces.

'By the time we found ourselves out the front of a hostel in the dawn, my friend drugged by the man she just shared a bunk with, and me, with the taste of someone foreign and ugly in my mouth, it lost its charm. 

'He was French and looked OK on the dance floor of a backpackers pub. He did me briefly in the bathtub. 

'There was a moment on the curb, when the morning birds were waking, when I noticed I was bleeding slightly. 

'My friend held me tenderly in her groggy arms and the ride home was strange and silent. We are still close to this day.'

'It's about what feels right': Mei, was born in China in 1991, in China before moving to America as a child. She lost her virginity at college.

'I grew up with strict parents, perfect grades, and not surprisingly, a very conservative view on sex, alcohol, drugs, and the like. 

'When I went to college, I immediately started to date Jamie. He was everything that my old life was not. He smoked and drank, and didn't think any of it was a big deal. 

'After we had dated for two weeks, I decided to have sex with Jamie. Thinking back on it now, I wanted something to erase all the stiffness and Chinese-ness that had defined my life for 19 years. 

'Jamie was also a virgin. We didn't really know what we were doing. I was tense and nervous, and it hurt like hell. After a few failed attempts, we gave up. 

'We stayed together, and spent many days and nights just enjoying each other’s company. Then one night, when we were fooling around, I knew then that this was how it should be. 

'I was much less tense, we went slowly, and this time, we succeeded. I remember looking into Jamie's eyes as he came in me, and thinking I had never been more happy about a decision. 

'It's about what feels right, and being with Jamie felt right.'

'If you were intelligent, you knew the anatomy, but we courted disaster all the time:' A British man, who does not wish to be named, was born 1942, and lost his virginity aged 16 to his now wife.
'There was no formal sex education in schools. You can tell people a lot of stuff and draw them diagrams but they’ve still got to actually experiment.

'I met my wife when she was fourteen and I was sixteen. She was extremely outgoing and anti-authoritarian and one thing quickly led to another. We used to I dance together a lot, still do in fact, if we get the chance and we can stay upright! 

'She came to my house a lot. My parents were  out all day and the place was always empty. 

'I had a whole floor of the house for my records and books and we would go up there during the day for hours without any interruption. Nobody thought for a moment what we were doing. They’d have been horrified if they’d known.'

Losing It: How we popped our cherry over the last 80 years is out now. Read more about Kate's project and books on www.virginityproject.typepad.com