Studies show that the main reason teen-aged girls are sexually active is not for sexual pleasure or even romantic “love.” Their primary motive is a desire for a social life. Like many adult women, both married and single, adolescent girls often endure partnered sex acts rather than enjoy them.
Quite frequently, young ladies who are sexually active are either trying to hold on to a boyfriend or to ensure that they spend their weekends with a male. In the words of one non-sexually active young lady who wrote to an advice columnist and signed herself “Nice Girl,” guys don’t often bother dating “a girl who won’t shell out,” so while the sexually active girls date, Nice Girl lamented “I am going to movies with my girlfriends.” The latter, presumably, are other virgins ignored by guys looking for sex.
If the average young girl views homosociality as a crown of thorns, solitude is seen, by teenagers of either gender, as a fate worse than death. The word “loner” is almost synonymous with “mental case.”
Some might say that sex is not the only reason boys seek the company of girls. An attractive girl with a good personality will have a hetero-social life even if she is chaste.
This may or may not be true. But this message is booby-trapped. To the ears of the less-popular, a bad personality can translate “bad person” (rather than referring to social skills and mannerisms). What’s more, it stigmatizes the girl who doesn’t have a hetero-social life — thus making her all the more desperate for male company.
So, social conservatives, what can we do to make teen-aged girls feel privileged to be with each other? How do we help them take pride in same-sex outings?
Are there ways to encourage boys to seek the company of chaste girls?
I’m writing this in the assumption that most people think solitude unhealthy for our socially oriented species but if anyone thinks such a lifestyle is a good one and that it can and should be brought into fashion, I’d welcome his or her suggestions.

