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Original poster

Was sex at school less stigmatised in the late 90s?

193 replies

blubberball · 29/04/2026 19:34

I was at school in the late 90s. I see things online now about "body count" and how that can be used by some to shame people (women). I don't know about your school and the general attitude around at the time, but it really seemed like the opposite was true back then. The cool people at school were the ones who had experience. Admittedly my town did have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe at the time. Was this the case when others were at school? People didn't seem ashamed of sex when I was at school. It was the opposite, they were very proud of it and laughed at the inexperienced people.

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HarlanPepper · 29/04/2026 20:15

I went to a rural comprehensive in the early to mid 90s. Sex wasn't stigmatised and I was on the late side, losing my virginity at 16. It was definitely seen as cool to be sexually experienced but equally, it was not good for a girl to be seen as 'easy' and I remember derogatory terms like 'slag' being bandied about too - always about girls obviously, the boys could do what they liked.

Sunrae28 · 29/04/2026 20:11

I don’t know about body count specifically but you definitely got teased if you were perceived as being ‘frigid’

PauliesWalnuts · 29/04/2026 20:11

It was definitely cool at mine. I was 16 in 1988 and 15 girls in my year were pregnant or had given birth by the time I picked up my GCSE results. That’s 25% of girls in the year. But, over 60% came from one of the roughest council estates in the country (probably more), and were trying to get away from hard family life I think. That, compared with absolutely no sex education (catholic school) meant that it was just waiting to happen. I am now 53 and some of my school cohort are now great grandmothers.

Original poster
blubberball · 29/04/2026 20:07

I'm a bit relieved that it's not just me. I thought that I was misremembering

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Original poster
blubberball · 29/04/2026 20:07

Lmnop22 · 29/04/2026 20:04

By the time I was at school in the early noughties, it was both cool and looked down upon. Like the girls who had slept with several men were popular but, at the same time, not really respected by their peers. Perhaps I went to school at the turning point?

It's a pretty strange phenomenon

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Lmnop22 · 29/04/2026 20:04

By the time I was at school in the early noughties, it was both cool and looked down upon. Like the girls who had slept with several men were popular but, at the same time, not really respected by their peers. Perhaps I went to school at the turning point?

Catza · 29/04/2026 20:01

Sex was welcomed but teenage pregnancy not. I only know one person who got pregnant at 15 and there was a lot of gossip about her long after we left school.

Original poster
blubberball · 29/04/2026 19:49

They didn't seem to be looked down on at my school. They were sort of revered. Secretly, I wanted to be a teenage mum. Looking back, I'm grateful that I didn't have my DC until early 20s, but at the time I thought it's what I wanted

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BelleEpoque27 · 29/04/2026 19:45

Yes, definitely 'cool' to be having sex when I was at school. Teen pregnancy was everyone's worst nightmare though, and the ones who did get pregnant were gossiped about/looked down on.

user2848502016 · 29/04/2026 19:42

Yes I started secondary school in ‘92 and it was the same attitude. Everyone was desperate to “lose it” before the end of 6th form!

OnlyMabelInTheBuilding · 29/04/2026 19:41

A high body count was not impressive when I was at school. Neither was teen pregnancy and I lived in an area where it was very high too. The other half would positively recoil at seeing that life. You were either in one cohort who thought it was fine, or the opposite.

Original poster
blubberball · 29/04/2026 19:41

I like people guessing the town 😅 It was genuinely on the news at the time. Parkwood, Maidstone, Kent

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TheLadiesTiara · 29/04/2026 19:41

I was at school, albeit I left in 1991. But nothing was stigmatised, and there was no “body count “.
I slept with a “man” for the first time in’92 (age 20), but it was private, no “body counting “.

MyIcyHeart · 29/04/2026 19:40

blubberball · 29/04/2026 19:34

I was at school in the late 90s. I see things online now about "body count" and how that can be used by some to shame people (women). I don't know about your school and the general attitude around at the time, but it really seemed like the opposite was true back then. The cool people at school were the ones who had experience. Admittedly my town did have the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Europe at the time. Was this the case when others were at school? People didn't seem ashamed of sex when I was at school. It was the opposite, they were very proud of it and laughed at the inexperienced people.

Are you from Thatcham?!

Original poster
blubberball · 29/04/2026 19:39

Kent

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TheLargeOnes · 29/04/2026 19:38

Harlow?

TheWickerFan · 29/04/2026 19:37

Yes, I think it was pretty similar at my school in the late 90s/early 2000s. Having a “high body count” would not have been looked down on for the most part.

Original poster
blubberball · 29/04/2026 19:37

The title is not the best. I mean attitudes to sex at school, not sex at school obviously 🤦‍♀️

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