Adolescent women today remain preoccupied with the concept of virginity. In certain peer groups virginity results in embarrassment and indicates a level of unacceptable immaturity. Yet, in other circles, virginity is a badge of honor, signifying strength as well as purity. Anecdotal evi dence of the stigma of purity imposed by some peer groups was obtained by the second author during the summer of 1994. Groups of 14- and 15 year-old inner-city African American and Latino boys and girls were brought together in New York City for an experimental job training and educational program. A sexuality component was included to heighten children’s awareness of sexual responsibility, values, choices, and decisions related to sexual behavior. The hypothesis was that informed young people could make better decisions and life choices, such as delaying sexual activity or using contraceptives to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
The majority of the students involved in the summer activity represented themselves with a level of sophistication and street smarts that suggested an understanding and a personal knowledge of sexual practices. However, anonymous surveys indicated that the majority of adolescent girls in the program were not sexually active. Yet, most of the girls revealed major preoccupations concerning when they should lose their virginity, given that “everyone is doing it.” In this group it was felt to be a greater shame to admit to sexual inactivity than to loss of virginity. Thus, even those who were not sexually active were required to present themselves as sexually knowledgeable and to adopt a sexual demeanor in order to protect the secret of their virginity from their peers.
The above report is confirmed by national data that the number of young adolescents engaging in sexual intercourse continues to be the mi nority. By late adolescence, however, the incidence of those reporting sex ual activity increases greatly and has become a majority. There may, how ever, be misreading of the data on gender differences among ethnic groups. For example, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (U. S. Department of Labor, 1998) reported that by age 15, 12% of White boys had intercourse compared with 5% of girls; the rate for boys was more than double that for girls. In African American populations, 42% of boys compared with 10% of girls; the rate for boys was more than four times that of girls. Similarly, among Latino/a youth, 19% of Hispanic boys compared with 4% Hispanic girls had their first sexual experience. Data from the National Survey on Family Growth (Judkins, 1991) revealed that by Grade 9, 37% of high school girls have had sex as compared with 48.7% of boys; by Grade 10, 42.9% of girls vs. 52.5% of boys; by Grade 11, 52.7% of girls vs. 62.6% of boys, and by Grade 12, 66.6% of girls vs. 76.3% of boys. Broken down by ethnicity, this same study showed that 47% of White girls vs. 56.4% of White boys; 60% of Black girls vs. 87.8% of Black boys; and 45% of His panic girls vs. 63% of Hispanic boys have had sex. Although these figures reveal the consistency of the double standard in social expectations, they also suggest discrepancies across groups that are not explained by the data alone.