How to Lose Your Virginity
By Kelsie Testa
And how not to...
How to Lose Your Virginity by Shawn Wickens is a compilation of shocking yet heartwarming tales of orifices, secretions, and vulgarity that pleasantly ends in an orgasm. From condom follies to mixed-race orgies, Wickens proves that no formula exists when it comes to this seminal and “ground-breaking” event.
The book is an anthology of face-to-face interviews that Wickens conducted with random strangers in bars across North America. Wickens transcribes the interviews as directly as possible so that each interviewee’s voice is preserved. One central message remains the same for all of these first-timers: losing your virginity is weird and exhilarating, whether you lost it with your middle-school bus driver named Frank at age 13 or you waited until marriage.
How to Lose Your Virginity catalogs the eternal struggle to forcefully ram your genitalia into someone else’s. It effectively answers the question that everyone secretly wonders about each other: “What does that person look like while having sex?”
Although it does not follow a particular character or plotline, this book is thoroughly ridden with hilarity. Hearing about others’ embarrassing sexual experiences allows us not only to cruelly chuckle at their misfortunes, but also to feel better about our own popped cherries, broken condoms, and excruciatingly painful first times. If you've ever wondered whether anyone else farted during their first time, this book is a strong affirmation that they surely have.
We were inspired by Wicken's findings, so we sent multimedia staffers Leah Gebler, Athena Andoniades to do their own research at Syracuse University. Check out how some students lost "it"...
SU Students Speak Candidly About Their "First Times"