Well written and engaging, Virginity Lost is an extremely valuable contribution, giving us in depth and moving descriptions of how first sexual experiences changed men's and women's lives and capturing interesting comparisons of both heterosexual and homosexual relationships and encounters. Laura Carpenter assumes nothing, and therefore, learns a great deal. Reading this book has changed the way I look at first intercourse. I am in the author's debt, as is, I believe, the entire field of sexology. -Pepper Schwartz,author of Everything You Know about Love and Sex Is Wrong The first book to date to take an in-depth look at the meaning men and women ascribe to their first experiences with sexual intercourse. . . . This body of research appears to be promising and will likely add much information to literature in the area of sexual behavior. -Sex Roles Well-organized and well-researched, Virginity Lost is an inquiry into adolescents' understandings of virginity. -Qualitative Sociology A provocative book. Carpenter's extensive in-depth research shows that the meaning of virginity loss differs by gender and by sexual orientation. For the details, read this excellent book! -Judith Lorber,author of Paradoxes of Gender This is a great book. It is well researched, grounded in compelling personal stories from 61 diverse young Americans, and accessibly written . . . Carpenter nicely grounds her analysis in sociocultural context, considering wider social reasons for shifting attitudes toward virginity loss and adeptly attending to the intersecting identifications of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. -Choice, Highly recommended