Let it V

I’m going to tackle the V-word: virginity. How "virgin" is virgin, anyway?

I asked several Filipinas from different age levels how they view the issue of virginity. And based on my survey, most respondents still believe virginity is "very important" in their lives. They even consider it as something "sacred." But this was the observation of the older women, those who placed a high value on their "pure" status. Girls below 18 years old somehow didn’t consider it important at all, which speaks volumes about our society today.

Believe it or not, the younger women are more sexually active, those aged 18 and below. There were a few who admitted they were still virgins on a technical basis. They had some premarital sexual experience short of the sexual act itself. Let’s call them "technical virgins." Some say they lost their virginity out of curiosity, feeling of love, seduction, or, worse, drugs and alcohol.

Some facts: Non-virgins regularly engage in sexual congress, and from the time they lost their virginity, they have had more than one sexual partner.

Still the non-virgins admit that they feel sorry about the loss of their big "V," which is something sacred. It usually happens that the guys they thought they’d spend their lifetime with turned out to be not the right guys for them at all. Losing the V-word in your life and dealing with it is not as easy as you think.

But others stand on their principle, and choose to remain virgins. The reasons they cite include "saving it for marriage," "fear of parents," "fear of a loss of social standing (being regarded as cheap and easy)," and "fear of becoming unwed mothers."

Though virgins are still plentiful among today’s urban, modern, young Filipinas, the trend might soon change. Virgins might become a rare and endangered species unless we have a moral reawakening.

Best advice: It’s still best to refrain from too much physical intimacy. Because when the hands and lips are busy exploring the human anatomy, verbal communication shuts down. Take time to enjoy a good life ahead of you. Get to know more about your partner by spending quality time with his family, and vice versa.

If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll to end up together forever.