Quite a heart-breaking story, Stacey. I continue to feel terribly sorry for people who have to grow up in the USA. By way of contrast, I was 15 when I first had sex; it was with a girl 6 months younger and we adored each other. As Europeans we had no fears or misconceptions about sex, we were emotionally ready, and the entire experience was unhurried and gentle and delightful for us both. It was our first time but certainly not the last. Almost all my European friends likewise became sexually active around this age, some sooner (the youngest at 13) and some later (the oldest I knew at 16) and none suffered any adverse impact; most certainly never from parents, who would frankly have been worried if their children had remained virgins until their late teens — because it would have signified some sort of problem.

The sad thing for me is that today, thanks to the pervasive influence of US entertainment, Europe is slowly creeping towards US sexual dysfunction. I can only hope it won’t go too far, because young people deserve so much better than the normal US experience.