Thank you all for sharing your stories! *HUGS* To everyone
I was 18 and about 3 months before my bf and I got together I was sexually assaulted by a "friend" of mine. Thankfully he didn't force me to have sex, largely I think because he was a virgin himself at the time and wasn't quite sure of what to do, but he forced me to do everything else.
I got back to school and started spending time with the guy that soon became my bf. We had known each other for about a year before that. When he asked me out I was really upfront about what had happened with the other guy. I said that I was a virgin, that I was really glad and felt really fortunate to still be a virgin, and wasn't ready to lose that, even with someone I was serious about. He was so caring and protective and told me that he was a virgin too and wasn't in any big rush. We started dating and I fell for him very hard and very fast. On our two month anniversary I told him that I was ready. I remember that he was shaking and he kept asking "are you ok? are you ok?" We also had a long talk about whether or not I was really ok and only after I convinced him that I was did anything happen. He went to great lengths (candles, roses, music) to make it special for me and to make it as far from that other negative experience as possible.
He still is the gentlest spirit that I know and that is part of the reason that it is now 3 years later and we are living together and planning to get married. Giving myself to him was so much more than just the sex, especially after what had happened to me. It was as much a gesture of my love for him and my absolute trust him as anything else. It was a beautiful experience and even if, heaven forbid, that our relationship ends, I know I could never regret that night.
For me it was all about waiting until I was in love and felt safe with the person I was giving myself to. I've never slept with anyone else and for me the sex is incredibly tied up in emotions. I guess you can say that I don't advocate waiting for the sake of waiting...but rather waiting until you truly feel ready.