TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION by Sharon Ervin
“No one who reads romance novels
will believe a 28-year-old virgin.”
My critique partners were definite
and unanimous. I needed to check my information.
A friend Jan has her doctorate in
psychology. Her practice is mostly adult women. I called her.
“Have you ever heard of a
28-year-old virgin?” I asked.
Jan laughed, coughed a couple of
times, then disclaimed. She could not talk about specific clients but, yes, she
knew, not only one, but many women who were still virgins beyond age 28.
“Right now I have at least a dozen
women clients between twenty-five and thirty years old, seeing me because of
that very thing.”
“Because they are still virgins?”
“Yes.”
“That many?”
“I’ve had dozens since I began
practicing. Their situations vary, of course. All the ones I’m seeing right now
have some college. Most of them have degrees. I promise you, there is not a dog
in the bunch. I mean these women are attractive and have a lot going for them.
A couple of them are even knock-out gorgeous.”
“Are they homosexual?”
“No. Life might be easier for them
if they were.”
“None of them has had sex? Why not?”
“As I said, their situations vary,
but most of them don’t know why, which is ‘the problem’ that brings them to me.
Because of not having had sex, most of them have developed low self-esteem, in
spite of their many other accomplishments. Some are ready to give up on ever
having sex, much less getting into a meaningful relationship. Some have decided
they’re too old to have sex for the first time, given their ages.”
“They consider twenty-five or thirty
too old for sex?”
“Too old for beginners.”
“What do you tell them?”
“At first, I was like you, amazed
that there were any virginal women in Oklahoma over the age of seventeen.
Opportunity seems to be the main culprit.
“There are some who promised parents
or church groups to remain virgins until marriage.”
“And?”
“Still unmarried, they continue
honoring those promises.
“I finally began asking some of my
more promiscuous clients when they had sex for the first time and how it
happened.
“Most of them started young. They
and the boys they knew were hormonal--actually focused primarily on their own
sex drives. Both boys and girls used dialog borrowed from movies and books and
copied celebrity lifestyles. Basically they knew what went where, but usually
there was no finesse. Prom and graduation nights were fairy standard
beginnings. It was part of being popular, who spent the night with whom.”
“What about willing girls who got
missed on prom or graduation nights?”
“Beer parties at lakes. Drinking and
drugs sometimes helped.”
“Do you have any male clients? Are
there frustrated male virgins, too?”
“There are, but they see our male
counselor.”
“Do you counselors compare notes? Do
you ever introduce his clients to yours?”
“No.”
“Not all females lose their
virginity in high school.”
“Of course not. Maybe a third of
them. More opportunities arise in places like coed dormitories and parties in
college.”
“Where others get initiated?”
“Correct.”
“What happens if a woman gets
through high school and college without having sex?”
“Late bloomers become more
aggressive. They have to, if they’re going to get in the game. Who do you think
signs up to meet people online?”
“Does love or a relationship play
any part in all this sexual activity?”
“Apparently not as much as women
like to think. We’ve got things topsy turvy in America today. Sex often comes
before a relationship. One of my clients had thirteen sex partners from the
time she was twenty-five until she was thirty. She was trying to catch up. She
is older now, and has not had sex at all recently. Not that she’s not
interested, but she no longer feels like ‘giving it away.’ She’s now looking for a relationship.”
“Nobody talks or writes about this.”
“Not generally. No one wants to
admit she’s been ‘left behind.’”
“I feel obligated to share this
surprising information, especially with people who write and edit romance
novels. It could provide great new plot material.”
Jan laughed again. “I can’t imagine
information like this would be good for the romance novel business.”
DO
YOU LOVE ME?, Sharon Ervin's fourteenth published novel, is coming in the
spring of 2018 from Intrigue Publishing. A former newspaper reporter, Ervin has a degree in
journalism from the University of Oklahoma, is married, and the mother of four
grown children. She lives in McAlester OK and is probate clerk in her husband
and older son’s law office.
BIO:
Ervin’s
books are available in print and electronic formats. Titles and blurbs are
available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, libraries, and wherever books are
sold.
She
is active in Romance Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Alpha Phi Sorority,
The OU Alumni Association, the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., the Texas
Writers Guild, and P.E.O.
Ervin
can be contacted at www.sharonervin.com, on
Facebook, Twitter, or by e-mail at ervins@sbcglobal.net.
BLURB:
DO
YOU LOVE ME? is a playful version of "Pygmalion," and "My Fair
Lady," updated, reversed, and set in Dallas. CEO/socialite Savanna
Cavendish, 32, is a career woman who assigns monetary value to everything,
including her own time and energy. She considers religion a crutch for the
poor. Savanna is annoyed when she must accept help from Pedro Rivera, 28, a
highway construction worker who repairs her car, then refuses to allow her to
pay him cash. A devout Catholic, Pedro, through an interpreter, asks Savanna to
teach him to speak and deport himself well enough to create his own contracting
business.
After
thinking it over, Savanna takes the challenge, and agrees to remake Pedro into
Peter, an American gentleman.
As
Peter morphs, Savanna is surprised by her attraction to the man she considers
her creation. As the chemistry between them quickens, Savanna struggles to view
him as an investment rather than an individual. When women friends admire him,
she is vexed by unfamiliar twinges of jealousy.
Eventually,
Savanna succumbs to a feelings that have no cash equivalent: love for a man
custom designed for her, by her.
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