Latest news with #virginity
Washington Post
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
No strings? No way. The perils of being ‘friends with benefits.'
Emma Medeiros made a special friend decades ago while she was in college. Ultimately, Adam Caldow would become her best friend — and also her 'friend with benefits,' slang for a friendship that becomes sexual but not romantic. 'We wanted to lose our virginity, but neither one of us knew what we were doing, so we thought, this is a good match,' Medeiros recalled. 'We won't be embarrassed if we're with someone else who doesn't know what they're doing,' added Medeiros, who is now 44 and living in Lewiston, Maine.
The Sun
22-07-2025
- General
- The Sun
I was virgin before university but ended up sleeping with five different guys since… I feel disgusted
DEAR DEIDRE: WHEN I arrived at university less than a year ago I was a virgin, but now I've already slept with five different guys. I used to have a boyfriend when I was living at home, but my parents are very strict and religious and frown on sex before marriage. They rarely let me and my boyfriend out of their sight. I'm an 18-year-old girl. When I applied for university my parents insisted I had to live in halls as they thought it would be safer than a house but they don't know the halls I'm in are mixed. On my first night I went to the student bar and ended up drinking far too much and going back to one guy's room and having sex with him. I felt guilty but managed to get over it. I had sex with him a few more times but he stressed it was just for fun. Although I really liked him, I acted as if I was happy with that. He would come to my room late at night and let himself in, then return to his room afterwards. I don't see him now as he has changed course. I started seeing another student but he was controlling. He reminded me of my parents so I dumped him. There was another one after him but we weren't compatible. Then I've had a couple of one-night stands that haven't gone anywhere. At the weekend I bumped into the first guy in a bar. Dear Deidre on relationships, jealousy and envy I told myself I wasn't going to have sex with him but we ended up in my bed. I feel disgusted with my behaviour. I have gone from having no sex to doing it just for fun. I'm so confused. DEIDRE SAYS: Casual sex risks both your emotional and sexual health but don't beat yourself up. You grew up without being given a chance to develop a sense of responsibility to decide on healthy boundaries for your sexual behaviour. You're giving off vibes that you're up for a casual fling, rather than spelling out what you really want. No-strings sex is unlikely to lead to a relationship. The good news is you can do something about this. Set your boundaries firmly. Only have sex with men who are as open as you are to the possibility of it leading to a relationship. Drinking too much alcohol is seriously affecting your judgment so keep your boozing in check. I'M FED UP OF MOVING HOME AS HE BUILDS HIS CAREER DEAR DEIDRE: I AM sick of following my husband and his job around the country. Is it time for me to break free and move to another area? My husband works in construction and he likes to be near his work. He's currently involved in building a huge estate a few miles from where we live as part of the Government's new housing plan. It's been going on for three years, with shops and schools all in the mix, and my husband is part of different phases. We are both 52 and I've had enough. The area we live in isn't great. Nobody goes out at night because it's not safe. My husband loves his job and simply says it is paying the bills so I need to get on with it. I would love to develop my own career but because we move so often I can only offer cleaning or waitressing. DEIDRE SAYS: If you don't have to work then it is easier to stay where one of you is working but is there no room for compromise? Find a moment to talk to your husband about moving further away from his work to somewhere still accessible but a nicer environment to live in. Could he use public transport or even car-share to the site to take some of the strain off a longer commute? If you can't agree, then see (020 7380 1975) who will be able to help you find a compromise through couple's counselling. DEAR DEIDRE: MY mother's house is absolutely filthy and I've come to realise that she doesn't keep herself clean either. While my wife and I were renovating our really old property, we spent six weeks living with her, along with our two children. My brothers and I have all lived with her at some stage, and the house is always messy. We've had discussions and jokes about having to clean up when we go. This time it was worse. The house was piled up with old newspapers and things she had bought but never used. Mum smells musty too and there are rooms you can't even enter because of everything that's piled up. My dad died 15 years ago. I'm 31 and I have realised that things started to get bad when she was grieving him. DEIDRE SAYS: When people start to let their personal hygiene slip, it is often a sign of depression. You must talk to her. If she's feeling overwhelmed with the property, arrange a clean-up with your brothers. Ask if she has spoken to her doctor about this or whether she would consider bereavement counselling. Check out Cruse Bereavement Care ( 0808 808 1677). You can find more advice through which helps anyone affected by a hoarder or hoards themselves. SHE THINKS ONCE A WEEK IS PLENTY DEAR DEIDRE: IF I didn't initiate sex, my wife and I would be living like housemates. I'm fed up with always being the one to suggest it and feeling like a sexual predator. I've no interest in cheating on her. I love her and she is my world, aside from my three kids who are pretty special, too. We have busy lives with the children's activities, cooking and cleaning, but we both work at it. My wife is 41 and I'm 45. We both have good jobs and sometimes work from home. With our companies both relaxing the rules on being in the office, I thought it would be our opportunity to get physically intimate during the day sometimes when the kids were at school. My wife sees it differently. She thinks sex once a week is enough, so if we've done it one evening, then I worry about asking her again. She's always got the excuse that she is tired or the kids will hear if we do it at bed time. I think we have lots of time when we are alone so why not take advantage and have sex three or four times a week? My wife doesn't agree. DEIDRE SAYS: A good sex life is more about quality than quantity and a good relationship is making sure that you both compromise if there's something you don't agree on. Rather than letting this fester, find a moment when you're not going to bed and ask if you can talk to her. Explain that you feel unhappy with the way things are right now and ask what you can do so she commits to sometimes initiating sex. Having a date night once a week, when there are no distractions like phones, can help. She might feel like sex afterwards. 'Diarising' intimacy often helps couples to make time to ensure that connection. My support pack Different Sex Drives will also help.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
There's a new reality show about virgins. It's not what you think.
Just days after his shaggy hair and somehow shaggier eyebrows were on display in TLC's new show, Alex Stunz came to Yahoo's New York office with a much more subdued appearance. His hair and beard were neatly combed, and his button-down shirt complemented his eyes. It's likely that the makeover was a part of the new TLC reality show he stars in, Virgins, which premiered June 9, but to spoil his onscreen arc would be a catastrophe. The series is about exactly what you think it is: four singles living across the United States share their lives and their struggles to sexually connect with other people. What you might not expect is the empathy it shows its cast in a sea of franchises that invite viewers to gawk at unusual lifestyles. Alex refers to his virgin status as 'my situation,' as if it's a problem to fix. He likes his life — his sisters describe him as 'social and outgoing' — but he'd love it if his bed saw some action, even if it is in his parents' house. Society is obsessed with virginity, which in turn has made Alex somewhat obsessed with his 'situation.' 'If I met a girl at the bar and wanted to bring her home, could I? Yes,' he says in the show's first episode. 'Would I? No. Only because, to me, it's embarrassing. Men in their 30s, maybe, should be living on their own.' Alex has failed to launch. Being bullied in school harmed his self-esteem, and now, at 34, he still lives in his parents' attic, which they refer to as his 'hole.' He's close with his older sisters, who are both unafraid of poking fun of him, encouraging him to 'just get laid' and begging him to use the back shaver their mom got him for Christmas. Alex told Yahoo Entertainment that when he shared the trailer for the new show, his friends and family expressed a lot of support. They called him 'brave,' saying, 'good for you.' His whole community seems to be rallying around the idea of him finding a life partner, just as they would in the olden days. Sitting across from Alex in the conference room with us is Rhasha, whose beauty has already compelled someone on the street to ask if she's the host of an HGTV series. (She's not, yet, but she'd be down.) Her story is perhaps the most unusual on the show. 'I'm a divorced virgin,' Rhasha says in the first episode, widening her eyes as if she can sense the audience gasping at her admission. She explains that she married an international student whom she had fallen for so he could stay in the country, but their marriage remained celibate, despite her desires. It harmed her self-confidence, which is why I found it so surprising that she was willing to broadcast some of her most personal secrets on TLC. It's riveting television, but is it the right move for someone hoping to take her power back? 'I didn't know if it was the move or not, to be honest. I was just looking for help after my divorce,' she told Yahoo Entertainment. 'It felt right, because what's yours is meant to be yours.' 'If I met a girl at the bar and wanted to bring her home, could I? Yes,' he says in the show's first episode. 'Would I? No.'Alex, who stars in TLC's 'Virgins' Both Alex and Rhasha's storylines are a bit over-the-top, as any reality show is wont to be — Alex's involves getting chest hair waxed after tantric speed-dating sessions, and Rhasha was tied up and suspended in the air by a mysterious bandana-clad man named Scarecrow after confessing that she's into bondage play. But instead of treating them like freaks of nature, the show gives them every opportunity to open up and relate to viewers who might be experiencing a similar situation in their own lives. They told Yahoo Entertainment that they weren't particularly worried that people might be pointing and laughing at them onscreen. They both knew this was a drastic step, but their circumstances were unusual, and it could be the key to sexual liberation. 'Without the help of someone, I probably would not experience meeting someone and having sex,' Rhasha said on the show. 'And I need that in the grossest of ways.' The two other virgins featured on the show are 35-year-old Los Angeles resident Deanne and 37-year-old Hollywood entertainer Sonali. Deanne, who's ambitious and successful, struggles to make compromises on her high expectations for men. Sonali was raised religious and fears intimacy. Though those two women weren't with us in the conference room, all four were texting later that day in the group chat they named 'Virgin OGs.' The cast of TLC's Virgins are all searching for love and a physical connection, but they've got to come to terms with how they're letting societal expectations mess with their heads. The show forces the virgins to confront the kind of topics not usually seen in sex ed: masturbation, BDSM, vaginismus, shifting religious standards and even how our expectations can get in the way of our desires. According to Leigh Norén, a sex and relationship therapist and social worker who isn't part of Virgins, talking about the unusual or embarrassing parts of dating on a show like this 'could potentially be helpful at normalizing [these] experiences.' 'Even for those who have a lot of sexual experience, talking about sex while dating can feel really awkward,' she told Yahoo Entertainment. 'Virginity has always been important within our culture. A lot of it stems from religion and the common focus on abstaining from sex before marriage.' Norén explained that virginity is particularly sexualized for women, but men are just expected to perform sexually. That creates different but profound problems that are often not discussed. Instead, having them brought out into the open helps to break stigmas around sex and sexuality. Together in a conference room, I watched Alex and Rhasha smile and prompt each other about their journeys, without allowing for any spoilers, of course. They both told me that they're '100%' glad they came on the show — which might be a double entendre, I'm not sure. Regardless, they seem infinitely more confident in front of me than when I watched them on my screen. If talking about taboos like virginity is the first step to overcoming them, these two newly minted reality stars soared toward conquering that goal, no matter what happens. Self-confidence seems to be key in the journeys all four virgins are embarking on this season. It's required to put yourself out there, and necessary when it comes to standing your ground in the search for the 'right person' to have your first sexual encounter with. 'Without the help of someone, I probably would not experience meeting someone and having sex.'Rhasha, who stars in TLC's 'Virgins' Wearing the most fabulous off-shoulder top that she swears is thrifted, Rhasha declares herself to me as 'Rhasha, no last name, like Madonna.' The same woman I'd watched giggle onscreen about being 'nasty' before quickly adding 'sorry mom' was so unabashedly herself that she didn't mind telling a journalist who was taking notes about her demeanor exactly how she wanted to be portrayed. Of course, once you've been broadcast on TV telling a relative stranger exactly how you'd like to be spanked, you might find me a lot less intimidating. Whether or not it'll be 'Virgin Summer' remains to be seen, though. I asked Alex and Rhasha if they were planning to listen to Lorde's forthcoming album, coincidentally called Virgin, when it comes out June 27. They hadn't heard of it, but maybe it's not the anthem they need anymore.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
There's a new reality show about virgins. It's not what you think.
Just days after his shaggy hair and somehow shaggier eyebrows were on display in TLC's new show, Alex Stunz came to Yahoo's New York office with a much more subdued appearance. His hair and beard were neatly combed, and his button-down shirt complemented his eyes. It's likely that the makeover was a part of the new TLC reality show he stars in, Virgins, which premiered June 9, but to spoil his onscreen arc would be a catastrophe. The series is about exactly what you think it is: four singles living across the United States share their lives and their struggles to sexually connect with other people. What you might not expect is the empathy it shows its cast in a sea of franchises that invite viewers to gawk at unusual lifestyles. Alex refers to his virgin status as 'my situation,' as if it's a problem to fix. He likes his life — his sisters describe him as 'social and outgoing' — but he'd love it if his bed saw some action, even if it is in his parents' house. Society is obsessed with virginity, which in turn has made Alex somewhat obsessed with his 'situation.' 'If I met a girl at the bar and wanted to bring her home, could I? Yes,' he says in the show's first episode. 'Would I? No. Only because, to me, it's embarrassing. Men in their 30s, maybe, should be living on their own.' Alex has failed to launch. Being bullied in school harmed his self-esteem, and now, at 34, he still lives in his parents' attic, which they refer to as his 'hole.' He's close with his older sisters, who are both unafraid of poking fun of him, encouraging him to 'just get laid' and begging him to use the back shaver their mom got him for Christmas. Alex told Yahoo Entertainment that when he shared the trailer for the new show, his friends and family expressed a lot of support. They called him 'brave,' saying, 'good for you.' His whole community seems to be rallying around the idea of him finding a life partner, just as they would in the olden days. Sitting across from Alex in the conference room with us is Rhasha, whose beauty has already compelled someone on the street to ask if she's the host of an HGTV series. (She's not, yet, but she'd be down.) Her story is perhaps the most unusual on the show. 'I'm a divorced virgin,' Rhasha says in the first episode, widening her eyes as if she can sense the audience gasping at her admission. She explains that she married an international student whom she had fallen for so he could stay in the country, but their marriage remained celibate, despite her desires. It harmed her self-confidence, which is why I found it so surprising that she was willing to broadcast some of her most personal secrets on TLC. It's riveting television, but is it the right move for someone hoping to take her power back? 'I didn't know if it was the move or not, to be honest. I was just looking for help after my divorce,' she told Yahoo Entertainment. 'It felt right, because what's yours is meant to be yours.' 'If I met a girl at the bar and wanted to bring her home, could I? Yes,' he says in the show's first episode. 'Would I? No.'Alex, who stars in TLC's 'Virgins' Both Alex and Rhasha's storylines are a bit over-the-top, as any reality show is wont to be — Alex's involves getting chest hair waxed after tantric speed-dating sessions, and Rhasha was tied up and suspended in the air by a mysterious bandana-clad man named Scarecrow after confessing that she's into bondage play. But instead of treating them like freaks of nature, the show gives them every opportunity to open up and relate to viewers who might be experiencing a similar situation in their own lives. They told Yahoo Entertainment that they weren't particularly worried that people might be pointing and laughing at them onscreen. They both knew this was a drastic step, but their circumstances were unusual, and it could be the key to sexual liberation. 'Without the help of someone, I probably would not experience meeting someone and having sex,' Rhasha said on the show. 'And I need that in the grossest of ways.' The two other virgins featured on the show are 35-year-old Los Angeles resident Deanne and 37-year-old Hollywood entertainer Sonali. Deanne, who's ambitious and successful, struggles to make compromises on her high expectations for men. Sonali was raised religious and fears intimacy. Though those two women weren't with us in the conference room, all four were texting later that day in the group chat they named 'Virgin OGs.' The cast of TLC's Virgins are all searching for love and a physical connection, but they've got to come to terms with how they're letting societal expectations mess with their heads. The show forces the virgins to confront the kind of topics not usually seen in sex ed: masturbation, BDSM, vaginismus, shifting religious standards and even how our expectations can get in the way of our desires. According to Leigh Norén, a sex and relationship therapist and social worker who isn't part of Virgins, talking about the unusual or embarrassing parts of dating on a show like this 'could potentially be helpful at normalizing [these] experiences.' 'Even for those who have a lot of sexual experience, talking about sex while dating can feel really awkward,' she told Yahoo Entertainment. 'Virginity has always been important within our culture. A lot of it stems from religion and the common focus on abstaining from sex before marriage.' Norén explained that virginity is particularly sexualized for women, but men are just expected to perform sexually. That creates different but profound problems that are often not discussed. Instead, having them brought out into the open helps to break stigmas around sex and sexuality. Together in a conference room, I watched Alex and Rhasha smile and prompt each other about their journeys, without allowing for any spoilers, of course. They both told me that they're '100%' glad they came on the show — which might be a double entendre, I'm not sure. Regardless, they seem infinitely more confident in front of me than when I watched them on my screen. If talking about taboos like virginity is the first step to overcoming them, these two newly minted reality stars soared toward conquering that goal, no matter what happens. Self-confidence seems to be key in the journeys all four virgins are embarking on this season. It's required to put yourself out there, and necessary when it comes to standing your ground in the search for the 'right person' to have your first sexual encounter with. 'Without the help of someone, I probably would not experience meeting someone and having sex.'Rhasha, who stars in TLC's 'Virgins' Wearing the most fabulous off-shoulder top that she swears is thrifted, Rhasha declares herself to me as 'Rhasha, no last name, like Madonna.' The same woman I'd watched giggle onscreen about being 'nasty' before quickly adding 'sorry mom' was so unabashedly herself that she didn't mind telling a journalist who was taking notes about her demeanor exactly how she wanted to be portrayed. Of course, once you've been broadcast on TV telling a relative stranger exactly how you'd like to be spanked, you might find me a lot less intimidating. Whether or not it'll be 'Virgin Summer' remains to be seen, though. I asked Alex and Rhasha if they were planning to listen to Lorde's forthcoming album, coincidentally called Virgin, when it comes out June 27. They hadn't heard of it, but maybe it's not the anthem they need anymore.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
There's a new reality show about virgins. It's not what you think.
Just days after his shaggy hair and somehow shaggier eyebrows were on display in TLC's new show, Alex Stunz came to Yahoo's New York office with a much more subdued appearance. His hair and beard were neatly combed, and his button-down shirt complemented his eyes. It's likely that the makeover was a part of the new TLC reality show he stars in, Virgins, which premiered June 9, but to spoil his onscreen arc would be a catastrophe. The series is about exactly what you think it is: four singles living across the United States share their lives and their struggles to sexually connect with other people. What you might not expect is the empathy it shows its cast in a sea of franchises that invite viewers to gawk at unusual lifestyles. Alex refers to his virgin status as 'my situation,' as if it's a problem to fix. He likes his life — his sisters describe him as 'social and outgoing' — but he'd love it if his bed saw some action, even if it is in his parents' house. Society is obsessed with virginity, which in turn has made Alex somewhat obsessed with his 'situation.' 'If I met a girl at the bar and wanted to bring her home, could I? Yes,' he says in the show's first episode. 'Would I? No. Only because, to me, it's embarrassing. Men in their 30s, maybe, should be living on their own.' Alex has failed to launch. Being bullied in school harmed his self-esteem, and now, at 34, he still lives in his parents' attic, which they refer to as his 'hole.' He's close with his older sisters, who are both unafraid of poking fun of him, encouraging him to 'just get laid' and begging him to use the back shaver their mom got him for Christmas. Alex told Yahoo Entertainment that when he shared the trailer for the new show, his friends and family expressed a lot of support. They called him 'brave,' saying, 'good for you.' His whole community seems to be rallying around the idea of him finding a life partner, just as they would in the olden days. Sitting across from Alex in the conference room with us is Rhasha, whose beauty has already compelled someone on the street to ask if she's the host of an HGTV series. (She's not, yet, but she'd be down.) Her story is perhaps the most unusual on the show. 'I'm a divorced virgin,' Rhasha says in the first episode, widening her eyes as if she can sense the audience gasping at her admission. She explains that she married an international student whom she had fallen for so he could stay in the country, but their marriage remained celibate, despite her desires. It harmed her self-confidence, which is why I found it so surprising that she was willing to broadcast some of her most personal secrets on TLC. It's riveting television, but is it the right move for someone hoping to take her power back? 'I didn't know if it was the move or not, to be honest. I was just looking for help after my divorce,' she told Yahoo Entertainment. 'It felt right, because what's yours is meant to be yours.' Both Alex and Rhasha's storylines are a bit over-the-top, as any reality show is wont to be — Alex's involves getting chest hair waxed after tantric speed-dating sessions, and Rhasha was tied up and suspended in the air by a mysterious bandana-clad man named Scarecrow after confessing that she's into bondage play. But instead of treating them like freaks of nature, the show gives them every opportunity to open up and relate to viewers who might be experiencing a similar situation in their own lives. They told Yahoo Entertainment that they weren't particularly worried that people might be pointing and laughing at them onscreen. They both knew this was a drastic step, but their circumstances were unusual, and it could be the key to sexual liberation. 'Without the help of someone, I probably would not experience meeting someone and having sex,' Rhasha said on the show. 'And I need that in the grossest of ways.' The two other virgins featured on the show are 35-year-old Los Angeles resident Deanne and 37-year-old Hollywood entertainer Sonali. Deanne, who's ambitious and successful, struggles to make compromises on her high expectations for men. Sonali was raised religious and fears intimacy. Though those two women weren't with us in the conference room, all four were texting later that day in the group chat they named 'Virgin OGs.' The cast of TLC's Virgins are all searching for love and a physical connection, but they've got to come to terms with how they're letting societal expectations mess with their heads. The show forces the virgins to confront the kind of topics not usually seen in sex ed: masturbation, BDSM, vaginismus, shifting religious standards and even how our expectations can get in the way of our desires. According to Leigh Norén, a sex and relationship therapist and social worker who isn't part of Virgins, talking about the unusual or embarrassing parts of dating on a show like this 'could potentially be helpful at normalizing [these] experiences.' 'Even for those who have a lot of sexual experience, talking about sex while dating can feel really awkward,' she told Yahoo Entertainment. 'Virginity has always been important within our culture. A lot of it stems from religion and the common focus on abstaining from sex before marriage.' Norén explained that virginity is particularly sexualized for women, but men are just expected to perform sexually. That creates different but profound problems that are often not discussed. Instead, having them brought out into the open helps to break stigmas around sex and sexuality. Together in a conference room, I watched Alex and Rhasha smile and prompt each other about their journeys, without allowing for any spoilers, of course. They both told me that they're '100%' glad they came on the show — which might be a double entendre, I'm not sure. Regardless, they seem infinitely more confident in front of me than when I watched them on my screen. If talking about taboos like virginity is the first step to overcoming them, these two newly minted reality stars soared toward conquering that goal, no matter what happens. Self-confidence seems to be key in the journeys all four virgins are embarking on this season. It's required to put yourself out there, and necessary when it comes to standing your ground in the search for the 'right person' to have your first sexual encounter with. Wearing the most fabulous off-shoulder top that she swears is thrifted, Rhasha declares herself to me as 'Rhasha, no last name, like Madonna.' The same woman I'd watched giggle onscreen about being 'nasty' before quickly adding 'sorry mom' was so unabashedly herself that she didn't mind telling a journalist who was taking notes about her demeanor exactly how she wanted to be portrayed. Of course, once you've been broadcast on TV telling a relative stranger exactly how you'd like to be spanked, you might find me a lot less intimidating. Whether or not it'll be 'Virgin Summer' remains to be seen, though. I asked Alex and Rhasha if they were planning to listen to Lorde's forthcoming album, coincidentally called Virgin, when it comes out June 27. They hadn't heard of it, but maybe it's not the anthem they need anymore.
