I went from a catholic school to a public school in 1968 which was about the time that the 60’s free love movement was gaining traction in my small town. I had little to no information given to me about sex at home or in school except the underlying message that you needed to wait until marriage. We however were very aware of the contradiction of this message by all the whispers about the generations ahead of us who “had to get married”.

Many of the older boys in town were coming home from the Vietnam war and we were getting a firsthand education in the “counter culture” from them.  I would have to say that I was not afraid to have sex and I did not think having sex was wrong but I was very afraid of getting pregnant and the shame that would bring.   Luckily I was schooled by an older girl on how to get birth control from a Doctor in a nearby town who god bless his soul was willing to give high school girls  birth control without parental consent.

I lost my virginity with a “steady” boyfriend in 1972,  just before I turned 16 in the basement of his parents’ house, on a cot. It was premeditated because I had already gotten birth control pills which is a good thing because condoms were pretty much unheard of. Buying them meant exposing yourself to the local pharmacist who of course knew all your parents. I was one of the first girls in my class to lose their virginity and the reaction was mixed from peers. The act itself was uneventful. I was high at the time and had no expectations. It was over quickly.  I was infatuated with my boyfriend and he was a good guy, but also very inexperienced.

To be honest the most negative aspect of it was that it became the “go to activity” every time we were together.  As I didn’t have any knowledge or understanding of an orgasm for myself, it was more for his pleasure than mine and a bit messy at that.  I never felt any coercion and as I said he was a good guy but I also wondered what all the “to do” was about for several years after that. I do think that I felt it was a badge of honor and an expectation if I was  going to be a “hippie” which I prided myself on being.  Looking back now I have no regrets and I don’t think it was too early or that it affected me very much in the big scheme of how much I was already being shaped and affected by the changing world at that time, which was  all sex, drugs and rock and roll.