Gender and Sexual Initiation in Mexico. Searching Patterns among Different Social Groups

Recent anthropological and socio-demographical findings about the meanings of sexuality among Mexican population report a gendered pattern of sexual initiation among men and women. Male first sexual intercourse often has a ritual character, under peer pressure, where young men have to prove their masculine identity in order to gain full admission to the rank of adult men. Virginity among men after certain age causes suspicions, in so far it constitutes a sign of doubtful masculinity. In contrast, women should not have sexual experiences before marriage because they need to conserve their virginity until then. Female sexual initiation involves emotional ties and almost always means the beginning of women's conjugal and reproductive lives. Having in mind these findings, we explore data of the National Survey on Reproductive Health of 2003. The objective is to compare, from a gender perspective, male and female experiences among several generations and social groups, in order to explore the existence of changes over time and to identify different patterns in the way the first sexual intercourse is experienced by Mexican population.