The V-Card

I might be opening up a can of worms with this one, but it’s something that’s been bugging me a while. So a while back I ran across this gossip article featuring a handful of stars discussing when they lost their virginity – because frankly I’ll follow nearly any link on Twitter (but that’s a whole ‘nother blog). Okay so I found this blog bothersome. Not only is it disturbing for me to think of my own kids losing their virginity at the tender ages of 11 or 12, but I had to wonder if it wasn’t completely irresponsible for these stars to proclaim their ages.

My main concern is that these people are often looked up to, especially by our impressionable youth. So let’s say your son really digs Matthew Fox cause you know he was awesome in We Are Marshall, but your boy comes across the article where Matthew proclaims that he lost his v-card at 11. What is your son to think? I’m also bothered because why do we need to know these intimate personal details of movie stars. Granted I’m a total hollywood gossip junkie, I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t check People.com. Still some details seem too personal.

Perhaps I’m sensitive about some of this because of my girls’ pasts. I remember one day in particular while we were waiting outside of family court for one of the hearings regarding the parental rights – there were two other women sitting next to me on the bench and they were talking about their kids. They were on the other side of the court system (parents fighting to get their kids out of foster-care) and at some point one of them says that she had six kids and that she actually found out she was pregnant with her first when she was 11. I was heartbroken, for her, for her children. So I guess in part, I’m coming to this discussion from that angle.

In any case, my question for y’all is two-fold, do you think it’s irresponsible for famous people to declare such things to the media knowing that a child could take it to heart? Also, how early is too early? Both to lose your virginity and when to talk about such things to your children?