I’m a dude if that changes things but this question is also relevant to women.
People talk about being too young to start dating and having sex, but I want to discuss the other side of the spectrum, being too old.
As you get older there’s a stigma for being inexperienced and I fear being judged prejudicially under some negative stereotype for being an older virgin (where "older" can mean over 30/25/20/18/[hell, insert just about any post-pubescent age]) being undesirable, repulsive, socially maladjusted, hopeless, or any combination thereof.
Yes I know not to shout about it from the rooftop but I am worried whether my inexperience was made known either directly or indirectly the other person would think I'm somehow socially maladjusted or repulsive or that, at best, it wouldn't be worth teaching whatever I "should" have learned during high school or college. In short, I worry that my inexperience at this age would be viewed as a negative against me in some way and that there is no possible way for me to have sex or a relationship at this point.
TLDR: Is virginity a catch 22 when you get older, where you need to experience to have sex but you can’t have sex without experience?