The Virginity Project

The American James...

MTV in the States emailed me this request the other day...if you fit the bill, and you're game..go for it.

'MTV is casting a fun, new documentary style reality series about
relationships & dating from a MALE perspective. We're looking for
virgin guys (21 & up) on their quest to break out of their shell &
improve their love life.

Do you get nervous around women? Are you stuck in the friend zone? Do
you find you're too busy to date?

Whatever the reason, if you or someone you know is a virgin guy in the
Greater Los Angeles area, we want to meet them!

Email MTV casting with your name, age, location, phone number & email,
and include a current photo & a brief history of your love life. Send
to tomiko.jones@mtvnmix.com ASAP!

*guys must be within driving distance of Los Angeles
*friends may be a part of the show
*casting immediately, don't let this opportunity pass you by!'

Virgin territory...

Well. What can I say?

Anyone who is prepared to subject themselves to the ‘intimate’ scrutiny of mainstream television is a man with balls - not of steel, but PLATINUM! If that doesn’t rid you of your shyness James, nothing will.

Last night’s ‘Virgin School’ made for an odd televisual experience. The fact that James was prepared, not only to stand up and tell the world that he is a virgin, but to effectively lose his virginity in front of a national television audience speaks volumes about the power of virginity. It tells us how, in this day and age, being a virgin is not just a person who has not had sex, but a person without a sexual identity – in a world where sex governs so much more of what we think, feel and do than we are ever conscious of.

So much of modern culture is wrapped and packaged around the idea that sex is something we are all doing, at any given moment, at every opportunity we can. And some of us are! But some of us aren’t. Some people, like James, have not even leapt the first hurdle. Well, until last night that is.

James, may your newfound sexual confidence serve you long and well.

You deserve it.

Start me up...

Well, look what we have here…

Billy and Chloe have single handedly kick-started a revolution. Starting this very evening, Channel 4 is launching its ‘Virgin Season’. A series of three documentaries, it starts tonight with ‘Virgin School’, and it looks like a cracking show – although the Daily Mail wasn’t convinced.

Featuring James, the 26 year old virgin, this documentary follows his progress as he journeys to Holland, (where else), and the curiously titled ‘Aquarion’ School.

A school for ‘love and leadership’, Aquarion will take James through a four month course ‘designed by experienced professionals to boost self confidence – both socially and sexually, and will culminate with the opportunity for James to lose his virginity to a sex therapist coach’. Gulp.

No pressure then.

The fact that a major British broadcaster is devoting an hour to a programme about a 26-year-old man who has never had sex is possibly the most pertinent point in all this. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for it, but it is interesting that in today’s society; James is considered such an anomaly. We simply cannot get our heads around the fact that some people can’t or don’t have sex.

As you can imagine, if you continually search for people to interview about virginity loss, as I have, you encounter a fair few people who say, ‘I can’t help you because I have never actually had sex’. People of all ages, married (YES!), single, gay, straight, whatever. There are all sorts of people out there, who, for all sorts of reasons, have never lost their virginity.

So, James, I haven’t watched your programme yet, but whatever the outcome, Bravo! Get out there and go where no man has boldly gone – to lose your virginity in full view of a large television audience.

You are a brave man.