All right, guys. This technically isn't a story, so it might get taken down, but please hear me out.

So often I'll see M-rated fics in which Austin and Ally engage in, um, sexual activities, usually with Ally losing her virginity. And the process of losing said virginity apparently always involves a significant amount of pain, as well as something about Austin forcing through and breaking her "barrier." These stories aren't bad (most of them are actually really good), but they're anatomically inaccurate. And as a young adult going into the biomedical field, I'm starting to go bonkers when I see fics that misleadingly portray sexuality and anatomy, which then cause less experienced writers to assume that this is how things work and then perpetuate these myths in their own stories.

If you are in any way uncomfortable with frank discussions about sex and the anatomy of the female reproductive system, this is your chance to gracefully bow out.

...

Now that we've got the prepubescents, the grandmas, and the popes out of the room, let's talk about "virginity."

There are a lot of different definitions for "losing" one's virginity. Some say a girl loses her virginity when she engages in any kind of sexual contact (so...basically reaching third base), while others claim she's a virgin until she engages in intercourse specifically. And then that just opens an entire can of worms about pinning a girl's value on whether or not she has had sex, and that opens the door to slut-shaming. So let's not go there. Here, for the sake of argument, I'm going to stick to the medical definition of "virginity."

Most people have the concept that there's this membrane of tissue, called a "hymen" located somewhere (and it's sort of nebulous when it comes to figuring out where exactly it is) inside the vagina, and that a girl loses her virginity when this hymen thingy is broken/torn/popped, hence slang such as "popping her cherry." In reality, the "hymen" is a piece of tissue located just inside the vaginal opening. Assuming you're a girl, you can physically see the thing if you prop a mirror between your knees, the way your pediatrician/primary care physician probably recommended. It'll appear as a pink-ish bit of tissue just inside the "lips" of the opening, and it has a little hole in it called the "corona."

The corona, the hole in the hymen, is a different size and shape for everyone. Infants are born with their hymen intact (no corona), but as girls grow up and reach adolescence, the membrane will thin out and wear down until a corona forms. Some girls will have larger coronas, so it will hurt less when they lose their virginity (I have one friend who said it didn't hurt at all her first time). Other girls have "microperforated" hymens (ones with really small coronas) or "septate" hymens (where the corona is actually two small holes next to each other, separated by a small piece of the hymen) and may find it difficult to insert even a slim tampon. (There are surgical procedures that can correct for these because they can be a problem.)

So, yes, there is a hymen located inside the vagina. But it's not as deep in there as you might have thought. Rather, it's right there. It's literally attached to and partially covers the opening. The pain from losing one's virginity comes from the fact that the corona is usually smaller than the diameter of the penis, and it's kind of hard to fit something through an opening that's smaller than the thing you're trying to force through. So please stop writing about Austin fitting in about six inches before he hits a "barrier" and then forces through it. There's no other "barrier" back there, except the cervix. But more on that later.

Also, the hymen is not supposed to be intact. The corona's there for a reason. Think about it: The vagina is a self-cleansing organ. How does it expel unwanted "stuff"—how the heck would a girl be able to menstruate if there's no egress (the corona) for the fluid to flow out of? So technically, there's no "popping" going on when a girl loses her virginity, since the hymen is not some kind of air-tight sealing.

While it's true that the pain from losing one's virginity comes from the fact that something bigger is being pushed through the corona, a normal hymen is not supposed to be torn. There's no tearing going on unless the hymen is unusually fragile. Rather, the pain comes from the corona being forced open and stretched. Some girls compare it to a rubber band being stretched tight. You do not lose your hymen when you lose your "virginity." The hymen stays a part of you; the corona just gets bigger.

Now that we've cleared that up, I feel like we should also talk about the G spot. There's still some controversy as to whether it actually exists or whether women who believe they have found theirs only think so because they've been led to believe it exists. Those who subscribe to its existence usually agree that it's located somewhere 1.5 to 3 inches inside, on the front wall, and it's not sensitive for every woman. It's not a "magic button."

Edit: To the anonymous reviewer who objected to my using "sexytimes," o.o Is there a problem? I just though it would better to use a euphemism for Doing It instead of scaring off all the readers. I've gone back and changed it now, but I've never met anyone who's had a problem with it. Is there something I'm missing? P.S. April, I added your comment to the list, which I have moved to a new chapter.