Blood loss and pain at first coitus in women with different
ethnic backgrounds
O.E. Loeber
Mildredhuis, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Young women are
often influenced by many myths and fears about blood loss at the first coitus,
especially when they come from countries where speaking about sex is something
of a taboo. In the Netherlands, on the other hand, people have been known to
think that the hymen itself did not exist. To find out what women had
experienced at the first coitus we handed out a short questionnaire to the
clients of a family planning clinic. We asked them about their age at first time
they had sex, whether they had no pain, a little or more than a little, whether
they had no blood loss, a little or more than a little, in what country they or
their parents were born and whether they had used tampons prior to the first
time they had sex. More than 90% of the women remembered exactly how it felt
that first time.
A total of 412 questionnaires were collected. Preliminary figures show the
following: – half of the women in the Netherlands and other countries in Western
Europe had no blood loss and a quarter had no pain the first time. This was far
less than women from other backgrounds, sometimes even 2 to 3 times less. –
although women from Arabic countries all think blood loss at first coitus is
obvious and normal, almost a quarter of them reported no blood loss at all. – if
the sexarche was at a younger age the girls had less blood loss. – of the women
who had no blood loss, half had used tampons the other half had not.
More exact
figures will be shown at presentation.
Conclusion Assuming the female anatomy
is much the same all over the world apparently fear and anxiety play a very big
role at first time sex in the perception of how much blood loss is to be
expected and the experience of pain.