Women's Sexuality Through Time. Part I

Common stereotype: boys are horny young bucks who become Don Juans or Casanovas and then settle into being dirty old men. Men relish sexual activity throughout their lives as stereotypes indicate (stereotypes after all, are based on some element of truth) whereas many women just don't get "it". "It" being sex. Sex, in its rudimental form serves to advance the survival of the human species, by design it should be intensely pleasurable, alluring and repeatable. So why is it that instead of being a team player in the game of sex, that many women are still sitting on the sidelines watching the action and playing the part of the disgruntled pep squad?

If a woman has to ask herself, "Am I having fun yet?" during sex, something is wrong and it needs to be fixed. Immediately. A woman's sexual pleasure can be disrupted by many things, but certain complications are more prone to keeping a woman on the bench rather than in the play at certain stages of her life. Dividing a woman's sex life into roughly four stages–the experimental phase, the pre-settled phase, the settling phase and the golden years–one can gain insight into the particular hurdles a woman faces that may negatively impact her enjoyment of nature's most basic right to pleasure. In this four part article, the negative and positive impacts of each sexual life phase will be analyzed with particular attention given to what may hinder a woman's complete enjoyment of sex.

THE EXPERIMENTAL PHASE
Gaining life and sexual experiences tend to be the focus of a woman in her younger years. Sex, and other sexual practices are a new sensation to the woman in her experimental phase. Life tends to be more carefree than in her latter years, so the emphasis for most women tends to be on sexual self-discovery and experimentation. However, sexual inexperience can make initial sexual awakening an emotionally and physically awkward experience for both partners and create feelings of insecurity that may last through a woman's sexual life span. Culture, religion and family factor strongly into how a woman views herself and her sexual endeavors. Negative attitudes such as "sex is wrong," "dirty," or "not for nice girls" can negatively impact a woman's sexual relationship with herself and with her partner and great significant insecurities and feelings of guilt. Another common concern for women in the experimental phase is becoming pregnant. When most women begin experimenting sexually they are not ready to support, let alone have, a family. Religious beliefs also tend to foster a negative attitude towards sex leaving the woman with feelings of guilt and/or inhibition that will stunt her sexual growth and enjoyment.

For women in this stage it is especially important to be careful and not to progress outside of her comfort zone when experimenting with sex. This phase in a woman's sexual development is literally and figuratively her devirginization—no longer is she a virgin physically, but her emotional and spiritual self are also incredibly vulnerable during this experimental phase as it is a new way for the woman to connect not only to her own body but to her world, be it friends, family, culture, religion or herself. One of the unfortunate mistakes is that many women tackle their experimentation phase without being properly informed, reading adult sex guides can ease the woman into this transition as well as inform her on proper contraceptive use, sexually transmitted diseases, and proper lubrication to make sex the fun and worry free pleasure that it should be.