The First Time

What can one say about this cartoon situation?  Well, it implies that she had some sexual experience and that she did find it more than pleasant.  Maman was not so pleased.  One could wish that some people might be more supportive and less judgmental.  Losing one's virginity is one of those sources of anxiety beforehand that seem retrospectivelty to be overworked.

Maybe it's in the notion of women (and girls) as property; losing one's virginity is viewed as being like depreciation, or simply driving it off the lot.  If that's the case, then this idea is to be deplored.  On the other hand, maybe the problem lies in the semantics: to lose one's virginity naturally implies that the previous state was better.  Maybe we should come up with some more neutral terminology that does not load the dice in favor of one possibility over another.  I don't necessarily imply that getting rid of one's virginity would be better.

In this same way, all of these terms try to load the dice similarly:

(a) Conservative

(b) Liberal

(c) Pro-choice

(d) Pro-life

(e) Childless

(f) Childfree

(g) Topless

(h) Topfree

(i)  Progressive

And I can go on.

Just some thoughts about losing it that go beyond into the realm of semantics.  I could imagine the reactions of some people if the term husband-free or wife-free were to become used.  Instant polarization!!!

Of course, using  the suffixes -free and -less can be interesting, too:  pantyfree, feckfree, jobfree, newspaperless, and so forth.