Betty Dodson with Carlin Ross
Better Orgasms. Better World.
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Betty's Vaginal Barbell |
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My Romantic Love Wars: A Sexual Memoir - EBOOK EDITION |
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Betty Dodson's Bodysex Workshop DVD |
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Betty Dodson Liberating women one orgasm at a time |
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Carlin Ross Sex, Politics & More Sex |
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Eric Amaranth Sex life coaching, real life erotica, and wellness |
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Lawrence Lanoff Reality Hacker. Sex Educator. Geek. |
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Liandra Dahl Sex Documentarian |
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LilithLand Women, Sex, Culture & Relationships |
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cajun sausage Lovin' Dr. Betty since 1996! |
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Christina Cicchelli Professional Pervert |
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Danny Wylde Male. Libra. Whore |
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Dr. Lulu History & the Material Culture of Sex |
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Emily and Ju Queer love |
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Eric Francis Astrology & Adventure |
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Jenn Parenthood. With Cursing |
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Jessica Kramer Liberating Birth |
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jexhibitionism |
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Kasini Poet. Educator. Catalyst. Mother. |
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LesleyS Redefining my sexual self after babies. |
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Logan Levkoff sexologist, sex educator, intellisexual, author, mom |
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Marisa Black Finding room for all of me |
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Marylou Naccarato Learn how to raise your level of “Sexability” |
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Palesa Art + Sex + Media + Empowerment |
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Princess What would my mother say? |
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Solo Sexualist |
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VirginMonoblogger Thought all virgins were the same? Think again. |
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WildOrchid A selfsexual, toy loving, possibly bisexual total virgin |
Its 2009, and I've been 18 for roughly 9 months now. I remember dreaming of becoming 18 when I was about 8, and because of my colour synesthesia (where I picture words - namely times of the year, ages, days of the week, etc - in colours) I made 18 sound/look glamorous. It was a warm orange, 16 was a bright yellow, but gradually blending to this bright, exciting orange. I'd be at the peak of education, and everything would be going perfectly in my life, just like it was for my 18 year old family friend at the time. (Of course it wasn't quite that peachy for her. I still don't know what it was like to be 18 for her.)
Now I've been this age, I'm wondering what it was like to be 18 at different generations. For me, it's been mostly tying up loose ends from being a teenager. Putting those last few brain cells to use 
and becoming more mature in my decisions. I'm excited about going off to university, and at the same time, dreading it. I haven't had to meet anyone new (properly) for several years now, and whilst I'm a confidant young woman, the nerves are still there. Not to mention the fact that I may not get IN to university, damn those grades I need!
Sexually, the boyfriend has to go between now and then. Being straight edge, sex is one of my only highs, which makes me enjoy it all that much more. I don't intend on going to university with a boyfriend and sit on the sidelines whilst everyone else is fucking =] (No luck of a free-pass either, he refused! Unless it was with a woman, which is tempting, but cock is still more appealing to me.)
I've been doing life drawing sessions, and I've appreciated the human body a whole lot more for doing so.
I'm sure there was a point to this post... Oh of course! Experiences when you were 18 (or young, I'm not fussy) Did you enjoy sex as much as you do now? (assuming you're older now) Were you a virgin, were you a slut, what was available contraception-wise, was there any hype about STI's, views on masturbation....Were there any controversial sex songs? (e.g. frankie goes to hollywood - relax, heard that got banned for a while...) Typical questions! I'm hoping you all remember what it was like to be 18.
1999
I was 18 in 1999, which I thought was really exciting because of the obvious tie-in to the Prince song. I thought I would be partying like it was 1999, and in many ways I did but I do feel a little disapointed by the fact that I didn't party as much as I wanted to. I was a virgin when I turned 18, but lost my virginity that year. My boyfriend was 20 and surprisingly uninterested in sex; that was my first lesson in how the young male libido is actually a stereotype and not a reality. We did do it a few times before we broke up, and I had my first orgasm through intercourse that year (but I will be careful to note it was not "vaginal," just happened during intercourse).
One thing I've been thinking a lot about lately and trying to point out to some of my younger friends: I was in high school during the end of a fairly positive public school sex education period. Clinton was still in the white house, and though I tend to think of him as a republican in sheep's clothing, at least sex education wasn't abstinence only back then! It was probably only a year or two before it came abstinence only. A lot of my friends who are just a few years younger than me talk about how bad sex education in America is, how they weren't taught about how to use condoms or get access to birth control. It's so strange for me because I'm only 28 and I can remember health classes that included practicing putting condoms on bananas! Sigh, those were the good old days ;)
18...hmmmmm
1991,Carlin and I were 18 at the same time.I just broke up with my boyfriend Kevin,lost my grandmother,went to Viet nam for the second time and started college. 18 was a whirlwind of a year. But I had more memories at 19, thats when I started exploring my sexuality.You can hear all about it in my podcasts with Carlin.
18 is a stepping stone, enjoy life.
Well behaved women,rarely make history.
1975
Like Eleni223, I turned 18 in 1975, in March. It was a strange time. There was the mistrust and turmoil due to coming out of Vietnam and Watergate. In April of that year, South Vietnam was taken over by the North. I registered for the draft and there was a fear that we would go back into Vietnam. Disco was coming and it sucked after growing up on the 60's rock sound. We were poor but my sister had went to college four years earlier and in the fall of 75, I left to attend college. Like some previous comments, my high school days seem like a waste of time. College was better and led to jobs in the city and moving away from the small town/farm life I grew up in. There were really no opportunities to learn about sex until after turning 18.
Turning 18
I'm glad to say goodbye to 17. Highschool was hell; I had no friends, nobody to talk to, my family fell apart.
18 hasn't happened yet, but it will in July. It starts a new chapter of my life, in which I move out to college and begin living for myself. I'm glad that I will be far away from the troubles here.
Eleni223, your 18 sounds beautiful.
I'm with you, Psy. High
I'm with you, Psy. High school was largely a bust. It was a waste as an institution of learning, unless you count learning to go with the herd, fit in, and be who and what other people think you should be. The only real practical use for public school up through to the end of high school, as far as I'm concerned, is as a daycare. A daycare bearing a resemblance to a zoo, where they keep all the animals in the same pen, and just shrug at the conflict that inevitably happens.
I turned 18 at the end of 1999, halfway into my first year of university. It was kind of a transition for me, like most everyone else here.
The basic rundown:
Before 18, I was quiet, withdrawn, insecure, and a bunch of other adjectives I don't particularly like. My biggest pastimes were reading, drawing, and spending time in the woods. (All of which were forms of escape for me.) I had few friends (most of whom I later found out weren't really the kind of friends you should want to have, after all), and because my dad was military we moved a lot and every three years or so I would have to deal with being "the new kid" again. My parents' marriage was crumbling (although they did save it, more or less... if you don't count their current occasional passive aggressive behaviour towards each other), my dad had a gambling problem, and my mom was... well... my mom, you'd have to know her to understand. More importantly than any of that though, I had no real sense of self. I didn't know what I wanted, I had no real interests, no drive or ambition. My only concern was making my parents happy, not disappointing them. The only real bright spot of the years immediately preceding my 18th birthday was the girl I started dating in my last year of high school. I had a crush on her for a couple years, and finally got up the nerve to make a move. Being with her made me feel confident, and pretty good about myself in general. If you can think of an important first, she was probably it for me.
After 18, I went through a rough breakup with said girl (my mom didn't like her, plus the long distance because I went away to university, and then she started lying to me, sometimes repeatedly when I caught her in one), lived with my grandparents for two very long, boring years until I had to change campuses to continue my studies. Then I lived in my own apartment with three friends, had some fun, and started really thinking about my life. Asking myself questions I'd never stopped to ask before. Specifically: What do I want? I ended up bombing out, and getting the "Dean's Vacation" (told by the university to take a year off), and started working in restaurants, first as a dishwasher and slowly grinding my way up.
Now, I work as a cook in a pub, I'm working on becoming a chef, I'm dating a girl that I love, and whom I KNOW loves me back, I've got friends here, as well as spread all over the continent, and half a dozen countries or more around the globe. (I'm a geek, I still spend a lot of time online.) And though I still can't answer that one, all important question "What do I want?" I can at least say that I am who, where, and what I am because I made my choices, good or bad, that nobody else made them for me (as I often feel about my earlier years). And even such a small thing as that makes me happier than you could likely understand.
Abstinence makes The Church grow fondlers.
From the older generation
I almost hesitated to reply to this post, because I was 18 in 1952. Truman was President and I was about to graduate from High School. Sex with my girlfriends? Of course not, because I wasn't married. Only a few kids in our school did screw, and when the girl became pregnant, she was shipped out of town to have the baby and put it up for adoption. Back on those days, many young people got married just to have sex, not for the deeper reasons of a lifelong committment and to raise a family.
I envy the younger generation with their wider sexual boundries. However, all is not lost. I've been a nudist for many years and have lots of friends in my age group who are not monagamus, and enjoy the freedom that we missed in your younger days.
Bob in CA
2000
I was 18 in 2000/2001. I was pregnant for half the year and stopped orgasming about 2 months into the pregnancy. It was an absolutely miserable year for me. I had my son when I was 19 and for the next 5 and a half years, I lived my life like a 40 year old half dead housewife (i.e. the ex marines wife in American Beauty). My husband loved it...well, EX husband. When I was 25, I met a 38 year old man who payed attention to me like no one ever had. I cheated on my husband, divorced him and had the worst year of my life. The lover turned out to be far more abusive than my husband had ever been, but all of it led me to the life I lead now that I would never change. After all of the abuse and neglect and depression, I am more beautiful than ever, I love myself and I am now setting a beautiful example for my children that I never could have done chained to their father. It was all for my daughter who will be 5 soon. Now she sees a happy, vibrant, loved woman where the frail, depressed one used to be. At 18, I had everything that I thought I wanted. After I realized it was all shit, it took me years to realize that there was a way out rather than dying on the inside more every day. Now, I'm almost 27 and the world really is mine. :)
Good luck in college, you are giving yourself a far better start than I allowed myself.
Well, I just turned 18 so I
Well, I just turned 18 so I am waiting to see all it has to offer. Since we start school a year later than usual in Bulgaria I'm still in my junior year but can't wait to get to uni and start studying medcine. I've been waiting for this for a long time and now that it's here I don't feel that much different. Sex wise, still a virgin and while I do masturbate a fair amount the lack of an actual partner with whom I can fuck is killing me. I'm just happy that I found Dodson and Ross this early in my life so that I can go into life without any foolish double standards and sexual shyness.
18
In 1984, I turned eighteen. I had my first child and even thinking about that year makes me want to take a nap. I would never change my life, but coming from a home where I was taught no survival skills, being grown-up with a baby was not easy. I was lucky to have a partner who helped me to learn living skills. I took from that situation the knowledge that I help my kids to be self-reliant and responsible but also to find a balance and help them out when I am supposed to. I would not want to be eighteen again for all the money in China. In my old age of forty-three years, I am happy.
ahh 18. That was a big
ahh I was 18 in 1991. That was a big year for me. I had my first short story published, met my future ex-husband, got pregnant/had an abortion, and my parents cut me off. In fact, my short story was about my abortion experience and knowing what it feels like to make a choice that our culture condemns. It was the beginning of my liberation.
The SEX. The sex was amazing; hell, I married him at 20. When "he" stopped by to sign off on our divorce papers last week he mentioned how great our sex always was and how even when we were totally pissed at each other we'd still fuck. He really taught me so much about sex. I guess he was my first sex mentor ;)
I love the way you defined each age with a color. You're very creative. My 18 was tangerine. 36 is yellow. Enjoy 18 and all it has to offer. We can design every experience...every age...it's all up to you to know what you want, visualize it, experience it, and remember to live in the moment.
"most people are fools, most authority is malignant, God does not exist, and everything is wrong" Ted Nelson
18
it was 1975 and I wouldn't be 18 again for anything. Sexually, I was not really that experienced, but I did masturbate and found that was the only way I could orgasm. In fact, I never had an orgasm while having sex until I was in my 30's, and even then, not often. 40 was my year of freedom. I had the confidence to tell my lovers what I needed as well as take responsibility for all of my orgasms and my happiness.
Back to being 18. I worked full time and went to school full time. I lived on diet pills (fancy way of saying legal speed) and drank way too many cokes. I was a feminist and fought for womens rights on both the political front and personal. I was an old 18. Fearless, rebellious and an idealist. I've always been an old soul, but never so much as I was at 18.