Late sexual debut—A qualitative interview study

Abstract

AbstractMany people find talking about their sexuality a taboo subject, especially if a person is unexperienced and has not had their sexual debut. In such cases, it is easy to feel stigmatized, isolated, and excluded from social groups and experience difficulties engaging in conversations. Studies show that the age of sexual debut for most young people in Denmark is 16.7 years. However, a small group has not debuted sexually when reaching their twenties. The purpose of this study is to gain broader insight into the participants' life narratives about their considerations of not having debuted sexually and the impact it has had on their life. The study design was qualitative based on 12 individual semi‐structured interviews. The data were analyzed using interpretive data‐driven thematic analysis. Two overall themes and several subthemes appeared throughout the analysis: 1) the causes of late sexual debut and 2) the meaning of not having debuted sexually. The study concludes that not having debuted sexually can lead to feeling marginalized, stigmatized, lonely, sad, shameful, and of low self‐esteem. The late sexual debut can be caused by many things, but something indicates that the influence throughout our childhood and early youth determines our sexual development. This is especially seen in certain religious environments. The findings of this study indicate that the longer you wait to have your first sexual relation, the harder it becomes. This adds to a negative spiral. The reasons were religious indoctrination, low self‐esteem, negative body image, disorder, unawareness about the body's functions, and unawareness about relationships, flirtation, and social interactions.