A Man Is Not a Virgin

""Well, Seymour, it's clear you've been falsely accused, because no one, anywhere, ever, would pretend to be a 44-year-old virgin.""

- Superintendant Chalmers, The Simpsons, "Grade School Confidential."

While teenagers Can't Get Away with Nuthin', and characters in slasher films often suffer Death by Sex, it is understood that the leading male must be sexually active. A guy who has never Done It, or even just does not Do It often, is simply Not Man Enough to save the day, solve the mystery or whatever. It doesn't matter whether sexual experience is in any way relevant to the skills needed in the plot, he just has to be Man Enough so he has to have Done It and preferably Do It Regularly. That's How It Is. Don't Argue.

Establishing the character's sexual competence varies from seeing a beautiful blonde, who has nothing to do with the plot and no lines to speak, crossing or leaving his bedroom early on in the film, to references to his ex-wife or old flames. Generally, however, the more macho Action Heroes don't have wives or steady girlfriends when the adventure starts, because that would stop them from hooking up with the female lead. We just have to be made aware that she is far from being the first beautiful woman he's had (Direct-to-DVD movies often get much lazier about this and combine it with the requisite sex scene, and will often have the male protagonist have sex with a few girls on screen while he's in the process of falling for the female protagonist).

It also, of course, serves to make the audience absolutely and totally sure that their hero is ardently heterosexual. After all, while homosexual or bisexual characters are becoming more and more common, the number of them that are leading characters can probably be counted on one hand. Establishing the male lead's heterosexuality assures the majority of the audience that it is thusly safe for women to want him and men to want to be him.

Note that the term "virgin" originally meant "a female who has not had sex with a man", and thus literally no male was ever a virgin—which sort of underscores the trope. The definition became more vague as language evolved.

Popular sub-tropes:
 * Sex as Rite-Of-Passage: The character is desperately trying to have sex to establish his manhood.
 * Sexually active sidekick: On the rare occasions that the lead character is sworn to chastity, or else so single minded that he has no time for sex, he will often have a sidekick who is, or wishes to be, sexually active. This seems to be so that the audience won't think the heroes are "queer".
 * All Men Are Perverts: A man could never not want to have sex with a woman, NEVER EVER.
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Male): Because of the above.
 * Black Comedy Rape: When the above is done for laughs.
 * Sex Is Cool: Really, the underlying reason why this trope exists.

Contrast Chaste Hero, Celibate Hero, Urban Legend Love Life and Nature Adores a Virgin. For the (more or less) gender-inverted version, see My Girl Is a Slut.

Anime

 * Ironically, it's the male leads of shonen and seinen anime and manga who are more likely to be virgins than the male leads of a shoujo or josei. Of course, shoujo and josei mangas tend to be more romantically focused than manga aimed at men.
 * Also, shounen anime is, by definition, aimed at boys, usually aged 13–15. In general, few boys at that age have had any sexual experience whatsoever, so it makes the heroes easier to identify with if they haven't, either.
 * Averted in Riding Bean and Gunsmith Cats. Even though creator Kenichi Sonada seemed to have a thing for lesbian (and bisexual) female characters (see also: Bubblegum Crisis), his male leads were always far less ambiguous. Although Bean's sexuality was never addressed directly in either the Riding Bean OVA or Gunsmith Cats manga, he practically exudes physical and mental masculinity from his pores, and is one of the biggest antiheros in anime and manga. Not only doesn't he believe in using guns, he's bulletproof (to the point of being practically indestructible); has a keen, if somewhat skewed moral code; drives an impossibly cool car (which, we're told, he designed himself); and could probably outdrive and outperform Jason Statham as a courier of illicit goods on any day of the week. He's more than enough of a badass that we don't need to see him have onscreen sex to feel secure in our own heterosexuality.
 * In the opening scene of the OAV, when Bean is acting as a getaway driver for a group of bank robbers, . Misty Brown finds herself filling a similar role at one point during the Gunmith Cats manga.
 * Cyborg 009 may be among the first anime/manga examples of this trope. There is a definite romantic relationship between 003 (Françoise Arnoul) and 009 (Joe Shimamura) and it has been strongly implied, at least, that this relationship is sexual (and thus, at the time, extremely controversial) in nature.
 * It actually depends on which 009 media we're talking about. The most blatant sexual allegory comes in the manga,
 * Hot Gimmick: Averted with Ryoki, who is extremely ashamed that he still is.
 * Or it could be considered Subverted; the philosophy that a man is not a virgin is still there, it's just that the character in question is "not a man".
 * Averted in Mobile Suit Gundam 00 with Setsuna F. Seiei. He starts as a Chaste Hero who can't even understand why a girl would get scared when he gets in her room at night and then rejects another girl when she steals her first kiss, then becomes a Celibate Hero who thinks of the same first girl more as a sisterly/motherly figure and says it out loud. All around, however, he simply doesn't seem to be interested.
 * In Gundam Seed, The Hero Kira Yamato loses his virginity to Flay Alster, his troubled crush and girlfriend. Said sex scene is actually quite important for their Character Development:
 * This raised quite the Fan Wank among fans since it made him the first Gundam main lead to have sex onscreen. Also, much of the controversy over this scene was based on the fact that at the time Kira was 16 and Flay was in the year below him at school, which makes her 15.
 * Double for the novelization for Mobile Suit Gundam, Amuro had sex with Sayla whom Pillow Talk was rather dark as she wants her brother dead. And lets not get started in the Novelization of Chars Counterattack, where the first couple of pages details Amuro having one last bit of sex with Beltochika before his final battle against Char.
 * Though the first novelization also mocks the trope a bit; Amuro thinks that having had sex makes him "more mature" and the narration points out that only an immature person would think that.
 * Averted in Gun X Sword: A recurring gag is that Van, Celibate Hero that he is, usually tries to keep women from getting too close by telling them "I'm a virgin". As he appears to not have had any interest in women before meeting his (soon-to-be-late) bride, he's probably telling the truth.
 * Further explored with Michael; after he has sex with Fasalina, the narrator intones, "While no one was looking, a boy became a man"... but the narrator continues to call Michael "boy" afterwards, while he refers to Van as "man" throughout. One sex act doth not a man make.
 * Averted by Vash of Trigun. He has a Badass Longcoat, Cool Shades, not one but two badass nicknames ("the Stampede, the Humanoid Typhoon,"), a 60 billion-double-dollar bounty on his head, and a very large gun. About the only thing he didn't have going for him was a giant robot. Vash is OFFERED sex by two women following his saving the town by defeating the Nebraskas and allowing them to claim the reward. He acts drunk, and like he's passed out and they leave disappointed, while we are treated to a shot of an open eyed and completely sober Vash looking regretful but determined.
 * Several manga Omakes might suggest that Nicholas D. Wolfwood is only active with his grotesque blow-up doll - which makes some sense since he's, has been busy surviving with debilitating traumas and a spectacular lack of social skills, and is more than awkward with women (including Millie). The anime suggests he has more experience and acts as a foil to Vash's obvious frustration.
 * And Legato, though he gets explicitly noticed for his good looks, is much too obsessive a follower of Knives and his plans to have had any intimate encounters. Mostly he meets people and they die.
 * This tends to put people off sex.
 * Averted in Code Geass. Despite a surprisingly attractive Unwanted Harem all making advances toward Lelouch in one form or another, he remains a virgin (as far as we know) for the entire series. Word of God even states that Lelouch was too busy with his Magnificent Bastardry to have time for women.
 * Subverted in R2 when a depressed and Heroic BSODing Lelouch orders Kallen to "comfort him". She slaps him instead, because she couldn't refuse anything to Zero, but doesn't want to be a sex toy for the pathetic thing Lelouch was at this point.
 * Gene Starwind in Outlaw Star. It is made quite clear that he has slept with many women before the heroine even shows up. Almost part-and-parcel of the roguish space pilot image.
 * Even Suguru Misato form Mahoromatic, who is usually considered as the dorky harem male lead. To be fair, it was after the time skip.
 * Averted by implication in Hellsing of all things - since true vampires can only be turned from virgins (if they're not virgins they become mindless ghouls), Alucard, Seras Victoria, Integra Hellsing, and the priest-vampire who appears at the beginning obviously managed to avoid sex far beyond the supposed norm. The priest-vampire doesn't even bother considering the possibility that Seras is a virgin, saying that he'll go ahead and rape her before turning her into a ghoul.
 * Joked about in The Abridged Series, Jan Valentine claims Millennium found a way to turn non-virgins into vampires, "You don't think I'm that much of a loser, do you?"
 * Note that, even though that last bit may have been a joke, it is explicitly stated that Millennium had found a way to turn virgins into ghouls, so it is perfectly possible that they found a way to turn non-virgins into vampires.
 * Massively averted in Katekyo Hitman Reborn, where 99% of the male characters are very obviously virgins. Of course, the target audience seems to be women, so...
 * And the BABY is the only one who is definitely not a virgin. Of course, he is a regular adult turned into a immortal baby, so it isn't that creepy.
 * Just name any Harem Anime or Shounen Romantic Comedy as it averts the trope in general, guy often remains a virgin to the very end of the series.
 * Averted in Full Metal Panic! with Sousuke. Despite being through many horrible wars, being a military man, and being at the age where he should be going through puberty, Sousuke has as much understanding about sex as a 5 year old. It's pretty safe to assume he's a virgin when he thinks that condoms are for storing water, "kissing" is a synonym for CPR, and "flirting" is trapping girls in cages and holding them captive at gunpoint. Seriously, you don't get chaster than him. As a matter of fact, Kurz even mocks him for it, insulting him by calling him a "gutless virgin."
 * In Tenjou Tenge and Air Gear, most of the male protagonist's friends has have sex, the guy however is still a virgin.
 * Pazu from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex claims that he "never sleeps with the same woman twice".
 * Also, Smug Snake Gouda claims that he is a virgin at one point, explaining that such a state plays an important part with his schemes. Looking at him, you can see why he hasn't gotten laid.
 * Martian Successor Nadesico had Akito and Yurika had sex once in Prince of Darkness. They are also a married by then, so its fine.
 * Lupin III steals two things: valuable goods and the virginity of women.
 * This is joked about in Fruits Basket, when Tohru's class puts on a performance of Cinderella. Kyo plays the prince and is extremely mopey and uninterested in the ball being held. During the performance, Arisa (who is playing his "best friend") tells him to cheer up and "it's no wonder you're still a virgin". Kyo freaks out at this and yells at her not to say stuff like that.
 * Averted by Kamina in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann but GOD HELP HIM, he was trying.
 * Fridge Brilliance considering his role in the story.
 * Averted by Great Teacher Onizuka, who repeatedly announces his virginity (not for lack of trying), and yet is very manly and heroic.
 * Though it's sometimes still Played for Laughs.
 * Ultimately averted in Mirai Nikki,
 * Played for Laughs in Axis Powers Hetalia, since Japan (who is hilariously awkward in regards to intimacy) is strongly hinted to have had sex with his friend/possible suitor Greece (who isn't a virgin and is very laidback about it). But Japan still claims it never happened.
 * And with France. Dear God, France.
 * School Days has Itou Mokoto tuned up his Jerkass Level potential of the original game Up To Maximum. The guy has sex with EVERY teenaged girls that are story-related and leaves the two main heroines in sympathic Yandere statements. Poor Kotonoha.
 * Basically, Makoto is your average Unlucky Everydude in the beginning. The moment he gives in and has sex with Sekai, however, is the very moment It Gets Worse.
 * Averted by about half the cast of Baccano!!, though not for lack of trying by some. Justifications range from crippling anxiety (yes, he's still badass) to waiting for a certain girl to massive social ineptitude.
 * Claire, despite being one of the aforementioned virgins, does put some stock in this trope though. Upon discovering that Firo's been living with a woman for over a year and hasn't gotten even as far as first base, he starts doubting that Firo's even human.
 * Hinted and then Confirmed in Macross Frontier, during Sheryl's stay with Alto in episode 22, both of them finally spent the night together which was proven in a Macross Magazine and later in the light novels.
 * Considering the huge kerfuffles about false interviews and other sources, link please?
 * A G-rated version occurs in Pokémon. While Ash doesn't seem to show much interest in ladies (and has been shown to be completely oblivious on more than one occasion), his friend and traveling partner Brock has made a habit of sidling up to women he just met and flirting with them.
 * The same thing can be found in Inuyasha; it's never stated outright in the anime that Miroku is sexually active (he may in fact be a virgin), but he manages to at least flirt with (read: propose marriage to, sometimes with a little bit of innocent fondling thrown into the mix) virtually every woman that he encounters.
 * In Kanokon, in the the final volume of the manga, Kouta does it with Chizuru before she was captured. Since this was their first time, it was awkward for both of them.
 * In Mad Bull 34, weak-willed rookie cop Eddie Daizaburo is pretty embarrassed about the fact that he's a virgin - especially considering the fact that his partner, "Sleepy" John Estes, is a Dirty Cop running a prostitution racket and a well known lothario. Sleepy tries to get a bunch of his girls to show Eddie a good time, but he's not having it because it's just not what he's looking for. Thereafter, Sleepy occasionally broaches the subject to annoy Eddie.
 * In Holyland Izawa is constantly switching girlfriends, this is however justified since it's a manga about teenagers street-fighting and we all know women just love bad guys, right?
 * Somewhat averted in Space Battleship Yamato; the show gave a little background on the resident Smart Guy Shiro Sanada (Sandor). All we know is that he knew Alex Wildstar (Mamoru Kodai) from the space academy. And that Sandor lost his limbs during a childhood accident. We know little about his personal life. And unlike the other key characters, he wasn't given a love interest. They even gave Homer (Aihara) one. For all we know, the only reason the issue doesn't come up is because while Sandor isn't exactly "old", he is a few years older than the majority of the other crewmen/women aboard Yamato and it was probably decided that he works best in a Big Brother Mentor role. That of course, doesn't rule out off-screen romances. Better than the American Star Blazers comic which ridiculously suggests that he lost more than his limbs in that childhood accident.
 * Averted hard in Sun-ken Rock. The protagonist Ken lead a very powerful(but small) mafia through shear force of personality, and has beaten up nearly every male in the series. Ken, even with many women literally throwing themselves at him, maintains his virginity as part of his devotion to Yumin, even though they have yet to do anything either.
 * Averted by Major "Iron Klaus" Heinz von dem Eberbach in From Eroica with Love, possibly because he's just not interested.
 * The Weiss Kreuz drama CD Fight Fire With Fire goes out of its way to reveal that Aya lost his virginity at the age of sixteen, two years before his traumatic backstory kicked in. This stands out because Aya otherwise shows no interest in sex or romance at any point throughout the series, in contrast to the other main characters.
 * Discussed in one chapter of the shoujo manga Men's Highschool, practically lampshading this trope in this page.
 * Discussed in TSF Monogatari, where Takumi comments that, since he's been turned into a girl, her virginity is now an asset as opposed to a stigma...which she loses not ten minutes later.
 * Averted with Issei Hyodou in High School DxD although he really wants to lose his virginity already but somehow can't. It's then revealed that the reason why he can't just lose his virginity to his harem who are totally willing for Issei is because
 * Kodomo no Jikan subverts it. At first, Aoki seems like the posterboy for this trope, however he grows out of the stereotypical problems a virgin has. He's still a virgin years later (and involved in two love triangles at once).

Comic Books
""I'm also reliably informed he didn't go to Vietnam a virgin... I was relieved to hear it. In light of what eventually befell him, learning otherwise would have killed me just a little bit more.""
 * In Fritz the Cat (and both films), Fritz has sex with pretty much every female character he meets. Even his sister.
 * Averted in Sin City, in which it is implied that Marv—the big, tough, near-invincible badass—was having "the night of his life" with Goldie, and lost his virginity to her. Marv specifically says that not even any of the city's numerous prostitutes would come near him due to his enormous stature, tough looks, and violent reputation, the implication being that certainly no non-prostitute would come within a mile of him.
 * Also averted in Watchmen with Rorschach. He's either asexual or is very repressed. Either way, with sexual issues ranging back to his childhood, his fear of women and his trouble mingling with people in general, it's pretty obvious that Rorschach is a virgin.
 * Nite Owl II has similar issues, although he's probably not a virgin, and has difficulty his first time having sex with
 * Batman has a habit of being irresistibly sexy to women, both in and out of costume. Seeing as his alter ego (or day-job) is that of a playboy billionaire, it's safe to say he's done a fair bit of boning on a regular basis, though whether he enjoys it or not depends on the writer.
 * According to the Knightfall novel, he's "sowed his wild oats" while traveling around the world, and currently has a son by Talia al Ghul.
 * Spike Witwicky in IDW's Transformers comics. First appearing in All Hail Megatron, we get a rapid-fire dose of this trope in his appearances in AHM #16 (in a full-body cast being attended by three hospital hotties) and the second issue of the ongoing (leaving a house with a half-dressed woman in the doorway).
 * Originally averted with Spider-Man, who was fifteen at the time of his creation. Although he had several major girlfriends, his relationship with them was clearly not sexual (his first on-screen kiss was when he was in college!)
 * Fanon states that Peter lost his virginity during the first Clone Saga with Mary Jane Watson. After this, all bets are off.
 * He recently had a one-night stand with his roommate, which serves no purpose other than to have Peter get some (and complicate his life even more).
 * Again, averted with Ultimate Spider-Man, where Peter, again only 15–16 years old, discusses the topic of sex with on again/off again girlfriend Mary Jane Watson, who doesn't feel ready. Sort of played straight in that Peter implies that, if MJ were willing, he would do it.
 * The Punisher story arc "Valley Forge, Valley Forge," contains excerpts from a fictitious book written by the younger brother of a Vietnam soldier who died in combat. The writer reveres his brother's memory, describing him as "Clark Kent played by Jimmy Stewart," and in one passage the writer notes how glad he is that his brother lost his virginity before enlisting:


 * Scott Pilgrim had slept with several girls (Kim being his first) before getting to date Ramona, with whom he almost had sex in the first issue but went on to have drunken sex with in the fifth issue.
 * Due to the it may be that Ramona or Envy may have been his firsts or that Ramona may have even been his first in volume 5.
 * Possibly averted in Irredeemable. The Plutonian can't have sex with anyone due to "Man of Steel, Woman Of Kleenex" concerns, but is still a strong-willed and upright manly man with the adoration of millions. When he uses a magic candle to briefly remove his powers, he has very passionate, very rough sex with one of his team mates. On the other hand, this was noted as the first time he was "unchained" and left his partner deeply shaken afterward. It's implied this taste of freedom may or may not have had something to do with him turning evil, or have been a glimpse at the fact that he was really a sociopath.
 * Said partner and the Plutonian were implied to have a sexual affair involving . The insane thing...
 * Subverted in the original X-Force, with eventual lovers Rictor and Shatterstar. After being groped in a club, Shatterstar flees in terror and later admits that he has no experience whatsoever. Attempting to comfort him, Rictor states that it's nothing to be ashamed of and admits that he's still a virgin—his Ladies' Man attitude is all an act.
 * Averted with Katar Hol in the Hawkworld continuity. When two women want to show their gratitude for saving their lives, he admits that he's a virgin and wants his first time to be special. That just makes them more interested in him.
 * Played with in the "Shout at The Devil" story line of Hack Slash. Hulking and deformed slasher-slayer Vlad has unsurprisingly never "made the sex" with a woman, but can't rescue his partner-in-slayage Cassie until he does.  Hilarity ensues.
 * Tales Of The Dragon Guard takes this and runs with it. Only virgin girls are immune to The Corruption. Virgin boys, grown men, and non-virgin girls still get mutated.
 * With the odd notable exception, Horndog protagonist Bob has pretty much had sex with every woman in the comic, or at least tried to.
 * Averted in Judge Dredd. Hinted at since the beginning and confirmed in recent years, Judges (of both sexes) are trained from the outset to be celibate. The "Wally Squad", i.e. the undercover division, are allowed to get it on but only when "in character" and even then they're not supposed to enjoy it. The penalty for infraction is usually dismissal; if they haven't yet infracted they are expected to resign. Many dismissed in this way, for example Galen De Marco, become private investigators.
 * In V for Vendetta, Adam Susan is a virgin, though his feelings about this are debatable; his internal monologues mention that he has "never known the peace that lies between a woman's thighs", the choice of words implying that he is neither disgusted by nor indifferent to the idea of sex, and he seems to regard his lack of experience as a necessary result of (as he sees it,) his constant struggle to maintain order. Later it is shown that he is in love with Fate, the supercomputer that runs the country (which is never implied to be anything other than a very advanced, but non-sentient, machine) and is heavily implied to masturbate in front of it on one occasion, so apparently he does have a sex drive and is just rather peculiar in the direction it takes him.

Fanfiction

 * Aversion in this LOTR fanfic, where all of the members of the fellowship are virgins, except Pippin.
 * Aversion; Gallant is a virgin in this amazing Goofus and Gallant slash fiction: http://community.livejournal.com/verywrongslash/507.html That's right, Rule 34 strikes again!
 * Averted with Minato in The Girl From Whirlpool. Because of this, some of his friends tried to get him to go to a brothel, where
 * The adult Takeru Takaishi in the Tamers Forever Series is a Subversion of this trope. Despite being one of the biggest Bad Asses in the series, he is specifically stated to be a virgin and while this does cause a brief awkward moment, it's not seen as important. In fact it actually ends up being part oh his appeal with Rumiko calling men like him a "dying breed".
 * Fill the Moon plays with this. Xaldin is twenty-nine and has never had sex (up to chapter 50, anyway). He is still as canonically Badass as he is in the game, but the others occasionally tease him for it.
 * While not directly called to attention, this is implied to be ironically subverted in Fallout Equestria. Calamity lived alone in a shack for years, acting as the lone defender of New Appleloosa but never actually living their. He remarks that, because none of the mares back in  shared his ideals, he saw no reason to pursue them romantically. Yet he loves meat, fixes things, and nopony would deny that he's a grade A Badass at the start of the story and only becomes more so throughout! All things considered,   Calamity, never very good with words, nonetheless assure both Velvet and Little pip that it wasn't just out of convenience and he intends to take the relationship seriously.

Music

 * Averted in "That Summer" by Garth Brooks.
 * Implied aversion in "I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight" from "Camelot", in which King Arthur sings about how he is frightened of his wedding night, despite being quite brave and manly otherwise. "You mean that a king who fought a dragon, hacked him in two and fixed his wagon, goes to be wed in terror and distress? Yes! A warrior who's so calm in battle, even his armor doesn't rattle, faces a woman petrified with fright? Right!"
 * Parodied in The Lonely Island's I Just Had Sex. It doesn't matter if it lasted all of thirty seconds, if she was bored, if she made you wear a bag over your head - "Still counts!"

Film
"Pep Streebeck: Oh Joe, you never had these feelings before, have you? Joe Friday: Almost. I had a kitten once. Pep Streebeck: Yeah, it's going to be a little different. Connie is not going to be sleeping in a box, or meowing all night, or clawing up your drapes. Or maybe she will. I mean, you're both kind of starting from scratch with this."
 * Aversion: In the 1987 movie version of Dragnet, Connie Swail is a virgin (we know because she's a virgin sacrifice) and it's implied Friday is too:

"Streebeck: Hey, partner. I tried to call you up till midnight. I thought the Christian Science reading rooms closed at ten. Friday: Not that it's any of your business Mr. National Enquirer, but I had the pleasure of spending a quiet evening in the company of Connie Swail. Streebeck: Wait a minute! Connie Swail? Don't you mean "the virgin Connie Swail?!" Friday: >:)"
 * Of course, this changes by the end of the film:

"The Nostalgia Chick: "After all, what are you doing if you're still in high school and still a virgin?""
 * Aversion: In The Graduate, it's pretty clear that Ben, the protagonist, is a virgin before he sleeps with Mrs. Robinson. He acts so horribly awkward she outright asks him, and he unsuccessfully tries to deny it, so she basically dares him to prove himself. "Just because you happen to be inadequate in one way..." To his...credit?...Dustin Hoffman, 30 years old at the time, does a great job of playing a nervous, shy virgin.
 * Averted in Pleasantville, in which the title town is based on a 50s TV show, and thus no one ever has sex, until the protagonists show up...
 * Averted in Twilight. Edward has been a virgin for all his 114 years, and refuses to sleep with Bella before marriage, though she's dying to. Also Jacob is probably a virgin (nothing indicates otherwise) but then he's only 17.
 * Averted in Blast from the Past due to the plot, which concerns a man who has spent his entire life in a bomb shelter with his family.
 * Averted (one hopes) in all movies in which a young boy magically instantly grows up, the most famous being Big.
 * Then again the point is he's not a real man, he's a boy. (He does get offered some though, and they make it perfectly clear that though he's young he's definately hetero.)
 * In Porky's, the main character's mission is to have sex—even by hiring a prostitute. The film derives its humor by frustrating every attempt until the end.
 * All the guys are desperate to lose their virginity in American Pie.
 * Brian and Claire are mocked for being virgins in The Breakfast Club, although Claire says she thinks it's ok for a guy to be a virgin.
 * The trope was averted in The Wicker Man (1973), where the hero's religiously inspired chastity is a major part of the plot.
 * The 2006 remake entirely omits the hero's religion and chastity. Apparently Neil La Bute couldn't believe Nicolas Cage as a virgin.
 * Sean Connery plays a very Sherlock Holmes-like monk in The Name of the Rose who, after learning that his young Watson-like protégé recently had sex for the first time, casually mentions that he can't offer much advice on that subject since it's beyond his experience.
 * Sean Connery, eh? Talk about Playing Against Type!
 * James Bond. Enough said.
 * Sam Spade and most other Film Noir/hard-boiled detective heroes.
 * There are two Egregious examples of this in the nonetheless excellent Bogart/Bacall version of The Big Sleep. The film adds not only a romance between Marlowe and Vivian not present in the novel, but also a scene where Marlowe seduces a Hot Librarian just to kill time on a stakeout. (Admittedly, the "horse racing" dialogue from one of the Marlowe/Vivian scenes is a classic of on-screen flirtation, but that doesn't make it any less irrelevant to the plot.)
 * Author Raymond Chandler once said of Philip Marlowe, "I think he might seduce a duchess, and I am quite sure he would not spoil a virgin."
 * Oddly enough, averted in the "Star Wars" films (though this troper can't speak to the Expanded Universe.) Though it's never explicitly stated, Luke's general demeanor and the massive dearth of women on Tatooine imply that he's still a virgin, and remains so throughout the movies. Furthermore, Anakin, a thoroughly non-virginal Jedi, sends the whole Republic down the crapper and ushers in a new era of darkness.
 * Thoroughly, thoroughly averted in the early Jim Carrey film Once Bitten, in which the only reason the vampire's interested in the protagonist at all is because it's so hard to find a male virgin these days: she has to bite a virgin to retain her youth, isn't interested in girls, and is having a tough time finding a boy over puberty who hasn't had sex yet. Not so averted, considering the day is finally saved when
 * The 40-Year-Old Virgin was all about the hero's attempts to lose his virginity. In a minor subversion, however, his male friends—who had all had sex and were eagerly egging him on—were in many ways much bigger losers than he was, and were certainly far more infantile and immature about sex, compared to the affable and handsome hero. One critic pointed that even his "unmanly" preference for bike riding rather than using a car or a motorcycle works to the hero's favor since it helps keep him in great shape and attractive to women.
 * In Hocus Pocus, a candle with a black flame is prophecized to resurrect a trio of witches if a virgin were to light it. Initially one would suspect that the little girl in the witch's costume would light it. But no, it was the main, male character Max who lit the candle. The cursed-as-an-immortal-cat Binx spelled this fact out in case the viewers forgot the virgin clause, as did the little girl.
 * Lampshaded in the conversation with the cop on the motorcycle. "I'll get it tattooed on my forehead, all right!?"
 * All of this joking and other general obsession about Max's lack of a sex life is made just a mite squicky, since he's only fifteen, at the very oldest!

"Vincent: You do like women? Julius: Very much so. They're strange and sensitive. They have compassion. I have the highest respect for women." Vincent: You're a virgin!" Julius: That's private. Vincent: A 230-pound virgin."
 * Averted in Hitman. Despite Nika's constant advances, 47 still turned her down. Naturally, this has started a rumor that 47 is gay.
 * Same with the games (kinda), but 47 is a clone Super Soldier so he probably has no sex drive.
 * Not so much a lack of a biological sex drive: simply that 36 years of conditioned upbringing in an underground Romanian laboratory would leave one on a little on the funny side. It's also suggested throughout the series that 47 is starting to soften his ways: in the first game, he grimaces with disgust after Lei Ling kisses him, but in the alternate interpretation version of the same mission which 47 experiences a flashback of four years later, he reacts more with simple surprise and bemusement. Additionally, his relationship with his handler Diana has become increasingly cordial over the course of the series.
 * It's implied, though never outright stated, that Billy was a virgin in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest  However, in the novel though not the film, McMurphy claims to have lost his at the age of TEN. Though that may be macho bragging.
 * In National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj, Taj joins the Mile-High Club within the first two minutes of the film's beginning, for no particular reason other than comedy and demonstrating that although he's a Bollywood Nerd, he's not a virgin.
 * Totally subverted in Born On the Fourth of July where the protagonist (played by Tom Cruise) is a wrestling star in high school who loses his final match, much to the disappointment of his parents, goes off to Vietnam to prove his manhood, and gets his legs blown off. He then loses his high school sweetheart, who he had been saving himself for (who remains his friend and gets him involved in the anti-war movement). In a fit of despair, he moves to a whorehouse in Mexico frequented by boozy, PTSD'd Vietnam War paraplegics and attempts to lose his virginity (more or less) to an attractive girl there. He doesn't enjoy it much.
 * Alex O'Connell in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor tells his mother that he has had numerous romantic affairs right before he proceeds to botch a conversation with his love interest.
 * Subverted in Weekend at Bernies 2. One of the characters will die from a poison unless a voodoo potion with "the blood of a virgin" is made as an antidote. The poisoned character laments that he's going to die, but his friend gets up and begrudgingly holds out his finger, saying "take my blood". The potion is made from his blood and works, leading the now cured character in the final scene to razz his buddy by saying "thanks for keeping yourself a virgin for me."
 * Parodied in Rustlers' Rhapsody. Rex O'Herlahan, the singing cowboy, finds himself facing down (dramatic pause) another Good Guy. They both figure the most good good guy will win. In the end, Rex backs down, because a good guy has to be a "confident heterosexual," and Rex has never Done It (He "fixes this" later on with the female lead)
 * In Revenge of the Nerds, pains are taken to show that the Nerds are not asexual or sexually inept, but rather simply misunderstood sexual experts, and that the beautiful girls don't know what they're missing by dating jocks.
 * Played arrow-straight in Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Seven Samurai. The youngest, most naive samurai, Katsushiro, falls for a village girl and the two have a little liaison while the village is threatened by bandits. They are eventually discovered, and things go very badly for the girl. On the other hand, before battle the other samurai clap Katsushiro on the back and remind him (depending on translator), "Katsushiro, fight bravely, for now you've become a man." This amuses every villager except the girl's father.
 * Averted in Zombieland. Maybe. Columbus just says that speculation on whether or not he's still a virgin is justified.  Also, he's a Bad Liar when he discusses his supposed sex life when first meeting Tallahassee, and he gets really excited at the prospect of so much as stroking a girl's hair. He's an obvious virgin.
 * Played very straight in An Officer and a Gentleman, where Zack and his sidekick Sid merrily have sex with their girlfriends every weekend.
 * Averted in the first two Back to The Future movies. Marty has a girlfriend, but he doesn't even get to kiss her because he's so busy fixing the timeline.  And there's no implication that he's slept with her or anyone else before. Of course these are family-friendly movies, but they wouldn't be the first to get crap past the radar. As for Doc Brown, he gets a love interest in the third movie, but in the first two he's bordering on Chaste Hero.
 * In the first film, Marty was planning a secret camping trip with Jennifer. The obvious implication was that this was when they were going to do it. With the rest of the movie series taking place over the course of a weekend in 1985 (for Marty it was about two weeks of time-travel), it just ends up never happening.
 * Interestingly averted in The Matrix. We don't know anything about Neo's supposed love life, but it doesn't matter because he was actually in the Matrix and his body was lying in a tube the whole time. When he gets freed, he only kisses Trinity (at least in the first movie). This may have to do with the "Neo is the Messiah" interpretation.
 * Played straight when they have sex in the second movie.
 * Played with in The Monster Squad, where the elderly mentor-figure insists that only a virgin can recite the spell that'll banish the monsters. When the big sister admits she doesn't qualify, she asks why the mentor can't do it, and is told by the Squad boys that he's not qualified either. Irate, she questions whether the boys had actually asked him.
 * Averted in The Terminator: Badass future soldier Kyle Reese is a virgin. While he loses his virginity in the course of the film, it's also pretty clear that if Sarah hadn't initiated it, nothing would have happened.
 * Averted in Mystery Team. Duncan and Charlie haven't kissed a girl by the end of the story, and Jason's first kiss.
 * Also averted in Captain America: The First Avenger. Pre-Transformation Steve Rogers is terribly intimidated by women (owing to his small stature), even afraid to ask girls to dance with him. His apprehension remains after receiving the Super Soldier serum, even when women throw themselves at him.
 * In Blade Runner, Deckard is pretty clearly not a virgin as his aggressive seduction of Rachael shows. However, he doesn't seem to be interested in any woman (replicant or not) but her.
 * Twins :
 * Twins :


 * It is heavily implied that Billy from Buffalo '66 is a virgin since he claims to have never had a girlfriend. He's not very manly, although he tries to act like it.
 * In Police Academy 2, Tackleberry (after unsuccessfully attempting to get the point across subtly) ends up shouting in a crowded restaurant, "Mahoney, I'm a virgin!" However, he eventually.

Literature
"...every single female I met was my aunt! My aunt, Leopold! Even at twelve, I knew better than that!"
 * Dr. Watson mentioned at several times that Sherlock Holmes has no interest in women. However, in the tradition of a sexually active sidekick, Watson boasts that he has had experience of the women of five continents! He marries the heroine at the end of The Sign of Four, marries again some time before The Lion's Mane, and shows interest in ladies at various other points. As Holmes puts it, "Watson, the fair sex is your department."
 * It's also indicated that Holmes' drug-usage and intense intellectual pursuits may have induced impotence. Watson likewise started out as something of a Sidekick Stu for Doyle.
 * All of a sudden The Star Trek: The Next Generation Holmes and Watson holodeck scenario seems a lot more ironically amusing for Geordi.
 * That might qualify as Fridge Brilliance.
 * Watson's reputation as a ladies' man didn't stop publication of the pastiche My Dearest Holmes, in which our heroes are a gay couple.
 * Partly played straight and partly averted in the 2009 film. While there's much flirtation and some hint of a sexual history between Holmes and Irene Adler, their de rigueur sex scene in the original script (complete with literal Slap Slap Kiss foreplay) was mercifully cut from the finished film. Except for a kiss forced on him while drugged, Holmes never sees any action during the movie. Neither does Watson, though he does have a fiancée.
 * Actually, this trope is frequently subverted or entirely averted in detective fiction in general, probably because of Sherlock Holmes. The Dresden Files 's romantically hopeless title character is a good example of this, as is Nicholson's character from Chinatown. Bonus points if being bad with women is related to a Chauvinist or outright misogynist attitude of the "Women are nothing but trouble/a distraction" variety.
 * In The Dresden Files book White Night, Seeing as how Harry has gone over four years without sex at this point, this character is just about the only person he *can* tease on this point. Even the polka-obsessed forensic pathologist Butters has had sex more recently than he has.
 * Averted notably in the person of Michael Szczgielniak in Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age books: not only is he a virgin (for most of the first two in which he appears, anyway) he's virgin powered.
 * In Robert Sheckly's short story Feeding Time (1953), a male bookworm Nerd happens upon a strange book in a strange antique book shop: 'Care and Feeding of the Gryphon'. The book explains that the gryphon's sole food are virgins. Despite his extensive collection of pornographic literature, the protagonist is intrigued by the, hm, implications. Although he briefly wonders where you get enough "innocent" young women from. He decides to become a gryphon keeper and follows the instructions given in the book... one spell later, he wakes up in a green field. And looking up, he sees the gryphon majestically swooping down on him, claws extended. He cries out in protest that the sole food of the gryphon should be virgins... then realizes the irony of the situation, instants before he is eaten.
 * Each Knight in Shining Armor in The Faerie Queene represents a different virtue. The Knight of Chastity, Britomart, is also the only female knight.
 * In the entire Romance Novel genre it is extraordinary for the male lead to be virginal. In fact they are often famous for their lechery. Until recently some romantic heroines were virgins until the heroic rake got his mitts on them...even when they were widows who had been married for years.
 * In Tamora Pierce's The Immortals quartet, many hints are dropped about the teacher mage Numair Salmalin's numerous sexual peccadilloes - in the fourth book, Realms Of The Gods, he tells his student Daine that "You of all people should know that I have been involved with ladies of the court!". And in another scene
 * Numair is also in his thirties at the time...just sayin'. He also mentions that he was "canoodling" when Daine was four, meaning that he lost it c. 18 years or so. No doubt we'll learn all about it in the Numair books...
 * Actually, he first "bedded Varice Kingsford" (not sure if that's the right name, but you know, the cake chick) when Daine was four. He was "canoodling" before she was born, making him fourteen at the most.
 * Speaking of Pierce's work, Briar (as of Will of the Empress since he was just a kid in the previous books).
 * Subverted in A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, where despite recounting his teenage efforts, an adult John Wheelwright admits he's still "just another Joseph."
 * Which might seem surprising—given that the narrator John is a fairly ordinary-looking young man—while Owen is so short he requires hand controls to drive and has an almost indescribable voice, one which could peel paint. But John is passive; Owen is brilliant, arrogant and—at least apparently—fearless. Perhaps "insolent" would better describe his attitude (a quality which can be sexy, and is perhaps more striking in one so physically aberrant). In school—and in other realms of life—John would fall apart, without Owen's help. BTW it's not only because of the Christmas pageant that.
 * Subverted in William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury with Quentin, who . At one point his sister asks him if he's ever had sex but knows that he's lying when he says yes. He even tries to tell his father that he has had sex with his sister - to save her - and his father doesn't believe him.
 * Averted in The Obsidian Trilogy: the hero is not only a virgin but is expected to remain so for a year and a day in order to repay a unicorn who saves his life.
 * Averted in Kushiel's Legacy, which describes Imriel losing his virginity in great detail. Imriel had previously been a sex abuse survivor, so it was a big deal for him to overcome his old fears.
 * Averted in Mary Stewart's trilogy about the life of Merlin; the feared and powerful enchanter is a virgin . In fact, the one time he tries to have sex with a woman, he fails. He states that he had to choose between his powers and sexual prowess.
 * Inverted in Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, in which the hero, Simon, manages to get all the way to the Last-Minute Hookup with Rebellious Princess Miriamele without losing his virginity, although it was a close call. Miriamele, on the other hand, did sleep with someone else (albeit not entirely willingly), causing a great deal of angst before the two make up.
 * The Princess Bride: Westley. Possibly. The man who spends all his life, all his time doing nothing but singlemindedly laboring to be able to be with Buttercup, whom he loves in a mysteriously perfect way for whatever reason. In "Buttercup's Baby," the fragment continuing the story of The Princess Bride a little bit, it's implied that he's not a virgin when they have their first time. Well, if it were someone else, it would be pretty clear, but knowing him and thereby that it makes no sense, room is left for doubt. Referring to his knowing there's more they could do than kissing, the narrator casually mentions that "he had been the King of the Sea for several years, and, well, things happened." She, of course, doesn't even know whether they should be standing up or lying down to do it.
 * Averted on Edward Cullen from Twilight. He is a 114 year old vampire virgin that never had a sexual urge before meeting the leading lady and insists on getting married before giving it up.
 * Expanded upon and teased in the parody fanwork Growing Up Cullen.
 * Inverted in Blue Moon Rising, where the prince who rides forth to battle a dragon is able to do so on a unicorn, having been forced to live chastely so he won't father a child who might one day contest his older brother's throne. The princess he brings back with him, conversely, can't ride the unicorn.
 * Inverted with Liquidon Ethereteel from Stationery Voyagers. He must not give in to his urge to consummate his relationship with Cindy. Ever. Kelday is also proudly celibate, though not truly Asexuality.
 * Averted with the other Voyagers. It takes a wizard spell and some Eros gas to convince them to reconsider their chaste ways. Even then, only one male Voyager,, gets any nookie.
 * In Darkly Dreaming Dexter, the titular Serial Killer Killer has avoided sex until that point, mostly because he finds the very idea of intercourse to be undignified. Only when his girlfriend presses the issue does he lose his virginity, and even then, his sociopathic mindset initially goes through with it merely to preserve his facade as a regular guy.
 * The Star Wars Expanded Universe has Luke's son, Ben, who averts this when Tahiri Veila offers him sex in exchange for details about the Rebel Jedi base. He refuses, but not before she sticks his hands in his shorts. Whether or not it "counts" is left to the reader's imagination.
 * Parodied in one of Esther Friesner's Majyk books: the groom has to produce a certificate guaranteeing "knowledge of the carnal arts" before he can get married. The bride has to provide evidence of her Incorruptible Pure Pureness.
 * Averted hard with Prince Siegfried from The Sleeping Beauty. However, given that the Tradition is trying to force him into a Ring Cycle retelling, you can't blame the guy for steering clear.


 * Prince Leopold from the same book plays it straight, as do many of the other Princes in the series.
 * Averted in The Lord of the Rings. Frodo Baggins remains a bachelor his whole life, as does his uncle (and adoptive father) Bilbo. The total lack of interest that he shows in romance hasn't stopped the fans from shipping him with every character imaginable, of course.
 * All of the other Hobbits eventually get married. Offstage, as sort of a retirement bonus.
 * More to the point, Aragorn, is a guy who spends the entire plot pining for a woman who is way out of even his league, while tromping through the Wild, killing orcs in droves and generally doing Manly Things. He is not allowed to marry until he is ruler of an empire.
 * Tolkien, being Catholic, was hardly likely to fall for that trope. Not to mention that he grew up at a time period where there were a goodly portion of men, at least some of whom were virgins for whatever reason, who had nothing to prove and would make many modern-day ladykillers look like wusses.
 * In the web-novel Domina, Derek and Adam are specifically noted to be virgins (well, we only find out about this after Adam sleeps with Lily). Derek doesn't seem to find it important, but Adam is embarrassed.
 * The novel Youth in Sexual Ecstasy deconstructs this.
 * Initially averted and later played straight with Ambrosio in The Monk when he breaks his vow of chastity with Matilda.
 * In Richard Wright's famous autobiography Black Boy, he recalls a co-worker who had a bad case of gonorrhea, and actually acts proud of it because it's proof he's had sex, and is therefore a real man. Richard doubts he's as proud of it as he acts, however, when he sees him urinate one day, with his teeth clenched, tears streaming out of his eyes and with a hand on the beam above him to keep from falling over in agony.
 * Averted in Tales of Kolmar. The king of the dragons is virginal, because sex is painful and the desire to mate rarely happens for his kind, and anyway he wants to find someone he can have deep mutual love with. Several human characters just plain aren't interested later, though to be fair Will could have had sex and never mentioned it, he just was supremely uninterested in anyone except Aral.
 * In Poul Anderson's Magitek tale Operation Chaos, there's an Army Signals officer who, when it's mentioned that he's attached to a Cavalry unit, is quick to mention that he does all his travelling by broomstick. This is because the Cavalry ride unicorns, and "No American male, unless he's in holy orders, likes to admit he's qualified to control a unicorn."
 * Averted in Gerfalcon by Leslie Barringer, when main character Raoul asks his friend Nino what it's like to wake up after a night with a woman he doesn't love (in case it's not obvious, Raoul is himself a virgin). Nino admits he has no idea; he talks a good game, but that's because thanks to this trope, most other men expect it, so he lies to fit in. He's just never felt right about actually having casual sex, and so he never has.

Live Action TV
"Rose: I trust him 'cause he's like you. ...Except with dating and dancing. Doctor: *wounded* You just assume I'm... You just assume I don't 'dance'. Rose: What, you're telling me you do dance? Doctor: 900 years old, me, I've been around a bit. I think you can assume at some point I've 'danced'. Rose: You?! Doctor: Problems? Rose: Doesn't the universe implode or something if you dance? Doctor: Well... I've got the moves, but I wouldn't wanna boast."
 * Given that during the original run of Doctor Who, the BBC strictly prohibited the Doctor from ever getting into any romantic situations, particularly with his companions, this may be why the Doctor's first companion was his granddaughter. Obviously, the existence of a granddaughter proved the Doctor's non-virgin bona fides, while keeping things G-rated (well, at least the relationships). Ironically, while in the new series the show runners have dropped the "no romance in the TARDIS" rule, Captain Jack is a pretty textbook example of the sexually active sidekick. He makes up for the Doctor's general disinterest in sex by hitting on literally anything that moves.
 * Interestingly, Susan was only made the Doctor's granddaughter to avoid the Unfortunate Implications of an old man travelling alone with a young girl.
 * And yet, despite his general Celibate Hero status, the new series still felt the need to point out, in their own veiled G-rated way, that the Doctor is not a virgin. (He's a Sufficiently Advanced Alien with probably genetically engineered Bizarre Alien Biology and a member of the society that could give the Master a new body just like that - having had a grandchild doesn't prove anything.)

"Rick: What, me? Rick? A virgin? Ha, ha, ha! Just try telling that to some of the foxy chicks who owe me favours! Neil: Well if Rick's not a virgin, then I'm not either!"
 * Averted in the 2006 episode "The Satan Pit": after being possessed, the Ood freak out the cast by listing their various secrets, which range from something Mr Jefferson's wife never forgave him for to Toby being a virgin.
 * The episode of Doogie Howser, M.D. quoted above.
 * iCarly: "iKiss" is basically a toned down for kids version of this.
 * The Young Ones, episode "Time," includes a long fight occasioned by Vyvyan mocking Rick's virginity. Another episode of the same show, "Nasty", shows the whole cast reluctant to confess virginity in the face of a vampire who drinks virgin blood.

"Marcus: Bugger! Now I have to wait for someone to wake up!"
 * Knight Rider (2008 Pilot Movie): the first time we see Mike Traceur, he's in bed with a random woman. Then another scantily clad woman returns to the bed to drive the point home. They do almost the same in the first scene of FBI agent Rivai, with another mostly naked blond woman. The twist: agent Rivai is a lesbian.
 * In the Firefly episode "Jaynestown," a local magistrate hires Inara to sleep with his 26-year-old-virgin son, supposedly in order to "make him a man." After they have sex, the son is disappointed that he doesn't feel fundamentally different. He asks, "Aren't I supposed to be a man now?" She answers, "A man is just a boy who is old enough to ask that question. Our time together is a symbol; it means something to your father. But it doesn't make you a man. You do that yourself."
 * Later on you get the equivalent of Crow T. Robot shouting "PLOT POINT!"
 * Arguably played straight in that the experience did make him, in his own words, a man, and was key to the episode being resolved (relatively) peacefully.
 * Mal also has a number of sexual conquests, most prominent being with the head of the brothel in "Heart of Gold". There's also "Our Mrs. Reynolds", when Saffron really comes on to him and he tells her that no one's held his plough except for himself for quite awhile. Jayne is also rather eager to help out the prostitute clients in "Heart of Gold".
 * Simon is so awkward with women that it can safely be assumed he is a virgin until
 * No it can't. He was used to his kind of women - the upper class, it was just the situation he was in and the girl in question weren't what he was used to. From the sound of it, while studying to be a doctor he had some pretty crazy times. It's possible - even probable - he's had sex before.
 * Supernatural: While Sam has his Cartwright Curse (although it doesn't stop him from having hot werewolf sex), Dean sleeps with anything that has a pulse (or doesn't, considering his necrophilia comments). However, it's been implied that this might not be such a good thing, with Sam finding it hard to believe that he could even manage a long-term relationship and thinking he's a slut with no standards - see Tall Tales - Dean thinking the same thing, as suggested by his ouch-worthy "Yeah, that sounds like me" in "What Is And Should Never Be" when Alt!Sam confronts him on having slept with his girlfriend on prom night, one of the seven sins calling him a "walking billboard of lust and gluttony", fans calling him pretty much a whore (not always nicely, either) and his actor teasing that he might have to be a hooker to pay their bills.
 * Subverted and invoked, when,  Dean says he's been "re-hymenated" and talks about wanting to "pop his cherry" as soon as possible. Sam's response? Yeah, not even   could do that.
 * Averted by Castiel. He may be a virgin, but he's a badass virgin who has saved the sexually-active brothers on several occasions.
 * And it was almost played straight. When Dean first learns that Castiel is a virgin, he decided that apocalypse could wait until Cas has that particular problem fixed. Of course, put an angel in a brothel, Hilarity Ensues.
 * Averted in Lois and Clark, where Superman is revealed to be a virgin. He had some legitimate concerns (see the essay that named the trope Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex.
 * In The Dresden Files TV show, the first scene we see of grown-up Harry starts with him waking up in bed with a nameless blonde who we never hear from again. It's especially striking considering his character in the books...
 * Averted in The Prisoner where Number 6 is deliberately never shown to possess any kind of sexual desire, in deliberate contrast to the James Bond-inspired spy image of the time. Naturally, theories about his sexuality abound, with much being made of the fact that the one time he even goes so far as to kiss a woman, he's in another man's body.
 * This was likely at Patrick McGoohan's behest. He is thought to have turned down the role of James Bond on moral grounds, with the reasoning that real spies don't have extensive dealings with guns and girls. After he made a similar case to the producers of Danger Man, his contract specified that McGoohan would not be called on to do even a kissing scene.
 * To be a little more specific, McGoohan supposedly didn't feel comfortable playing a womanizing secret agent because of his Roman Catholic faith.
 * In addition at least two scripts submitted for the series - Chimes of Big Ben and A Change of Mind - originally contained romance subplots for No. 6. McGoohan vetoed the subplot in A Change of Mind completely, while in Chimes the relationship with No. 8 actually became more romantic in nature as it was rewritten to be more flirtatious. Despite McGoohan's efforts, however, not all romance was eliminated from the series. Aside from the body-changing episode which introduces his fiancee, "The Schizoid Man" has No. 6 being very friendly with a female prisoner (to the extent of even spending time with her in his home, nudge-nudge) and in "Dance of the Dead" it is made explicit that his observer has fallen in love with him. The continuation novel Think Tank by Roger Langley—unlicensed but published by the officially sanctions Prisoner Appreciation Society—is the only professionally published Prisoner story to outright affirm the trope by having No. 6 go to bed with a woman.
 * In fact, the question of Number 6's sexuality suggests a number of possible answers to the question at the core of the series: Why did he resign?
 * Possibly subverted on Pushing Daisies: Ned claims he's not a virgin, but he is spectacularly inexperienced at romance and may be exaggerating his conquests.
 * Then again, it's hard to imagine someone as awkward and uncomfortable as Ned fabricating a story like
 * He never explicitly denied being a virgin. The spoilered incident above had him use the words "intimate relations," which could mean anything.
 * In one episode it's mentioned that he invented "contraptions" to enable him to have some sort of sex life with Chuck, so by the end of the series he is either a Technical Virgin or not a virgin, depending on just what they did and how you look at it.
 * Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Given that the Vorta are cloned, and given that they have no family, one can assume that they have no need for sex, and therefore do not have sex... and given that Weyoun is quite the badass... I'm gonna call this one averted.
 * Captain Kirk. In a specific example, the episode "Bread and Circuses" has the bad guys give Kirk a hot female slave for the night who must do whatever he commands. It is implied that they have sex, of course, and the next morning the Big Bad tells Kirk that he decided to let him "be a man" before executing him.
 * But, by implication, averted with Spock in the same series. Vulcan sexual desire is manifested as pon farr every seven years; Spock goes through his first pon farr during the series, and it is defused not through sex but through physical combat. Therefore, it appears that Spock remains a virgin for the entirety of the series' run.
 * Though he's implied to have sex in both "This Side of Paradise" and "All Our Yesterdays". (The former case is arguable, but in the latter it's as heavily implied as any of Kirk's encounters.)
 * TNG made a bit of a deal out of Geordi La Forge not being able to get a date with a woman (even though he did, on several occasions, even if one of them was a hologram).
 * And lets not forget Commander Riker, who's sexploits rival or exceed those of Kirk's (who might as well be the Trope Namer) Riker also functions as something of a sexual sidekick to the more restrained Captain Picard (especially in the first season). Of course, Picard gets his fair share of action over the run of TNG.
 * Ironically enough, the record holder for most tail in TNG might actually be Wesley Crusher.
 * Averted in Marcus Cole in Babylon 5, who was a self-professed virgin and quite comfortable that way because he felt he hadn't met the right woman. He did eventually meet her, but died before they could consummate. She is shown lamenting that later.
 * It's actually a pretty good subversion, as Marcus, the virgin, is repeatedly shown as being an incredibly talented fighter, once wiping out an entire bar while barely losing his breath

"Tony: It's embarrassing. Sid: It's common and quite normal for someone of sixteen-- Tony: --No. It's embarrassing, Sid. Sid: ...Shit."
 * Played to amusing effect in Fighting Spiders. The three main characters are out in the nighttime, in a cemetery no less, and the legend of the 'orang minyak' is brought up: a man covered in oil who goes around (ahem) disturbing virgins. The youngest says that since they are boys they won't be disturbed, but the one who best knows his English points out that virgins can apply to boys too...
 * In Monk, the titular character is not explicitly stated to be a virgin, but all of the evidence points in that direction. In one episode he's disgusted by the presence of a nude man, and when Sharona says he must have seen himself nude before, he replies, "Only once. And that was enough." Also, in an episode where he stays over at the home of an attractive woman who's not put off by his severe OCD, he seems to lock up at the very thought of even kissing her. It's likely he and his wife Trudy had a loving, but chaste, marriage.
 * Not sure I buy this one, as Monk goes so far as to sing showtunes for the rest of a therapy session to avoid answering his shrink's question about his and Trudy's sex life. Considering how many other humiliating quirks Adrian is content to unload on his therapists, surely he was concealing something besides "We didn't have a sex life", this time. Additionally, when a childhood crush visits, Monk urges Natalie to tell her that he and Trudy "went all the way."
 * The only point of the scene with Peter in bed with a blonde in Warehouse 13's pilot.
 * The Buffy episode "Teacher's Pet": A shape shifting preying mantis only preys on virgin boys, and captures Xander and another boy who we had previously seen boasting about his sexual exploits. Neither he, nor Xander, is pleased when they learn that they were chosen for their virginity, and the guy threatens to sue, if they tell anyone.
 * The aforementioned Xander spent two and a half seasons proving his Badass Normal credentials while hanging onto his virginity (his relationship with Cordelia was unconsumated). When he helps out Faith in season 3, she thanks him (& burns off extra agression) by seducing him. Xander has sex, but it's not the most remarkable or manly thing he does even that night, making it a bit of a subversion of this trope.
 * The trope is completely Played Straight when it comes to Liam/Angel, Giles, Spike, and Oz, though.
 * Comes heavily into play in the TV series Bones, where tough guy FBI agent Seeley Booth is "interrupted" while with his blonde lawyer girlfriend, who has no real relevance to the series' plot, aside from helping along some of the UST between Booth and Brennan. He also has an illegitimate son, from an old girlfriend. This is all made more surprising by the fact that Booth is frequently depicted as a very serious Catholic; while it's certainly not uncommon for Catholics to fall short of or ignore the Church's prohibition on sex outside of marriage, it never seems to even occur to Booth that there might be a problem, probably because the writers couldn't conceive of a "tough guy" character actually having a problem with sex... hence the trope.
 * Zack Addy, Brennan's awkward graduate student, is surprised when everyone thinks he's a virgin.
 * Referenced, and somewhat lampshaded, in the first episode of the first series of Skins.

"Atia: You will penetrate someone today or I shall burn your wretched books in the yard."
 * In Fresh Prince of Bel Air Will reveals to Carlton that he is a virgin in "Mama's Baby, Carlton's Maybe" when Carlton has been left at the altar. Turns out, not surprisingly, Carlton is a virgin too.
 * Carlton eventually does lose his virginity, and when he does they make a huge show of it. Nothing is shown on scene, but after the woman leads him into her room with a look of sheerest joy on his face, we hear a chorus singing Hallelujah, scenes of erupting geysers, airplanes taking off, bees pollinating flowers and the like. Surely there's some kind of backwards cosmic vengeance to letting Carlton be considered "a real man" before Will.
 * The joyous occasion becomes short lived, however, once Carlton realizes the woman he slept with was married a few days later. Despite slight regret for deceiving him, she treated the incident as a one night stand. For Carlton, he thought he found his one true love (which was why he was willing to have sex with the woman), and it made him feel lower than dirt for participating. Later on, Will admits to Carlton that, despite Carlton's bad luck, waiting for the special someone isn't such a bad thing, since he ruined a few too many relationships rushing towards sex instead of getting to know his girlfriends better.
 * Deconstructed in an episode of Family Matters in which Steve reveals Eddie's virginity to an entire men's locker room, inadvertently causing all the guys to make fun of Eddie. Later on in the episode, Eddie stands up to them with a speech about how real men value women as human beings and not as conquests.
 * In Red Dwarf, even Arnold Rimmer—who is uptight, utterly inept socially, and completely clueless with the opposite sex—had sex once during his lifetime (at age 31 with the ship's female boxing champion Yvonne McGruder, who had a concussion at the time and apparently thought he was someone called "Norman"). Possibly a subversion in that it would be more consistent with Rimmer's character for him to be a virgin (when Cat finds out that Rimmer has had sex one time only, he exclaims "That many?!") and his experience with McGruder is treated by everyone, including him, as a freak occurrence.
 * Later in the series, Rimmer as a hologram has an afternoon of sex with holoship crew member Nirvanah Crane. And later still, the resurrected human Rimmer goes through "the first 23 pages of the Kama Sutra" with McGruder after deliberately contracting the Sexual Magnetism Virus, as well as almost all the women at the Captain's Supper
 * Averted with Cat, who is a virgin simply because he is the Last of His Kind on a ship where there are no women (or, later on in the series, no women who are interested in him). An episode where Cat would have finally lost his virginity was written for Series VII but never produced.
 * Considering that
 * Averted by Glee, which portrays high school students' sex lives very accurately—or at least, more accurately than most shows. Kurt and Artie (unpopular) are both virgins at their introductions, as are Finn and Blaine (popular). Over the course of three seasons  lose their virginity, as do most of the virginal female characters. Special mention goes to Kurt, who explicitly states on two separate occasions that either he isn't ready for sex (to the point of literally sticking his fingers in his ears and going "la la la" in order to avoid talking about it), or that he wants his first time to be meaningful. On a smaller scale, however, played straight in "The Power of Madonna", when Finn is the only one who sleeps with his intended (in his case, Santana) during the "Like a Virgin" number (Emma and Rachel do not). It becomes Sex as Rite-Of-Passage, and he "doesn't feel any different."
 * In an early episode of The OC, Seth suggests to Ryan that they "hire some hookers and lose our virginity", and Ryan gives a look that suggests he most likely isn't a virgin. This is probably to highlight the difference between sheltered, nerdy Seth and Troubled but Cute Ryan.
 * Subverted in Smallville. For the first several seasons Clark was the epitome of the innocent male virgin, to the point that it'd become somewhat of an in-joke amongst fans, who coined the term "Supervirgin." In one episode, a witch who needs the hair of two virgins for a spell successfully uses Clark's, just in case there was any doubt.
 * Constantly used for humor on Married... with Children. Al Bundy was the Big Man on Campus in high school not only because he was a football hero, but because he made it with every hot girl in his class...at least before he got married and his life went down the crapper. His son Bud has the opposite problem, constantly trying (and failing) to score with women, something for which the rest of his family teases him mercilessly.
 * Hilariously enough, they're always pairing Bud with different women. He has sex with at least four in the series run.
 * Atia on Rome is very determined her son becomes a man. Which she emphasises with this comment:

""Go Feeny!""
 * Somewhat Truth in Television and less about sex for sex's sake than ticking off the boxes for things a Proper Roman Male needs to be known to do to BE a man—Octavian was at/approaching legal age, he needed to demonstrate it. (Also, note that the point is less sexual intercourse than penetration—man or woman, so long as Octavian is on top, it would "count". For Romans, male sexuality was not about the gender of the partner/target but very much about who was on top.)
 * Played straight in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
 * Averted in 3rd Rock from the Sun, which concerns aliens who take on human form. It's not clear what forms they had as aliens, but one assumes they don't have sex like humans do. When their leader Dick loses his virginity (at least, human virginity) he declares "Oh, Dr. Albright! That was the greatest thirty seconds of my life!"
 * On one episode of M* A* S* H, Frank Burns tells the other doctors a story about how a girl from the debate team hit on him in high school, but he turned her down because he was saving himself for marriage. Our heroes react with disbelief, and even the usually fair-minded Col. Potter dubs Frank a "creep" as a result. Granted, they're all prone to dislike Frank due to him being a Holier Than Thou Jerkass, but this particular instance seems to reveal more about the era's mores regarding masculinity than the characters.
 * Averted with the innocent version of Radar. While he worries about it a fair bit, anytime he does someone (usually Hawkeye) will tell him that a girl he wants to bring home to his mother is worth waiting for.
 * In the episode "Springtime", when Klinger gets married, after a date with a nurse, Radar walks into the room where the ceremony is held, all crumbled up saying "I think I've just been slaked".
 * On a further note, the much more promiscuous (at least in the first few seasons) Hawkeye and Trapper are shown to be much more competent than the relatively chaste Frank, who is shown to only "discuss that new exploratory" with Hot Lips Houlihan (ignoring the fact he's cheating on his wife). Even Henry Blake is shown to womanize and at least hold his own in the operating room.
 * Trapper, BJ, Frank, Henry and Potter all have kids. Which makes them non-virgins regardless whether or not they bed any of the nurses or visiting females (BJ and Potter never did in the series, although both of them came close once).
 * Inverted with Father Mulcahy. Over the course of the 11 seasons, he's stated a few times he has no experience in such matters.
 * Inverted in the same episode mentioned above ("Springtime"), Klinger gets married over the radio. He wears a white wedding gown. Frank and Margareth walk in, and Margareth says White?. Klinger replies with I'm entitled to. Jealous?. Klinger has been seen going out with nurses, before, during, and after his marriage, but unlike Hawkeye, Trapper or Henry, it's never suggested he has ever sex with one of them.
 * Oh, Tek! You've obviously had hundreds of girlfriends!
 * Word of God says that Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory" is probably a virgin, as he considers sex to be a silly human weakness and has no personal interest whatsoever. He now has Amy Farrah Fowler in his life, but they've agreed that they're not boyfriend-girlfriend, they're just intellectual companions.
 * In an unaired pilot, he claims to have had sex, but that doesn't really count.
 * In the slasher movie-themed episode of Boy Meets World, Genre Savvy Shawn points out that only virgins survive slasher movies. Eric and Jack proudly accept they're going to die. Eric & Shawn then realize that Feeny had just been killed, so they start dancing in his memory.


 * Averted in Sherlock. Sherlock Holmes claimed in the first episode that neither girlfriends nor boyfriends were his area and he was married to his work. In Season 2, it was explicitly stated that he was a virgin.
 * Invoked in Bomb Girls by James to Gladys to justify his infidelity. She loses no time in pointing out the double standard.
 * In The Amazing Race 4, Millie & Chuck had dated for 12 years but said they never consummated. This was apparently notable enough that where most teams are labled "Dating", "Married", "Best Friends" or the like, the show labeled these two "The Virgins".
 * Deputy Enos Strate on The Dukes of Hazzard was identified as the the only virgin in Hazzard County.

Video Games

 * The objective of Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards is for the title character to lose his virginity. If he can't do it by next morning, he'll kill himself. And hey, to emphasize the challenge, prostitutes don't count.
 * The ending to the original Sin inverts this. The hyper-macho Blade is distracted by Elexis Sinclair, and becomes nervous, even stuttering, as she spreads her legs and moves her hand down between them. She says something to the effect of "I'll bet you've never seen anything... like THIS!". She then proceeds to press the Big Red Teleporting Button, gets split into four on an atomic level, is put into four separate rockets, and escapes to god knows where.
 * Alistair in Dragon Age Origins actually is a virgin, as a result of growing up in the chantry and then being recruited directly from there into the Grey Wardens. The female Player Character can, of course, rectify this; Wynne and Zevran playfully give Alistair The Talk partway through his Romance Sidequest, much to his embarrassment.
 * Fenris in Dragon Age 2 also admits to being probably a virgin (before Hawke or Isabela), as he has no memory of his life before receiving the lyrium markings, and knows he hasn't done it since. While there was some implication of sexual abuse while a slave, Fenris doesn't seem to count that.
 * Averted in Star Control II. During the Talana/Captain sex scene, it's obvious that the captain is a virgin.
 * Averted hard in Agarest Senki. The game revolves that you need multiple generations to fight the same kind of evil and serves as a Gameplay and Story Integration where, in a Dating Sim style, the protagonist of that generation must choose his soulmate and, well, mate with her so he has an offspring to continue the fight.
 * The sequel takes it to another level where you literally strap her to a soul pillar naked before you have sex with her if your relationship level is low enough
 * In Assassin's Creed II, Ezio spends a night with a girl named Christina (and escapes via window) as the game starts, then later gets to spend some time with four prostitutes as Rescue Sex.
 * Ezio also gets some Reward Sex after winning a horse race. But then again, that's the kind of guy Ezio is.
 * Averted in Ben Jordan case three. The witch coven reveals that they chose Ben because they needed to sacrifice a virgin. When Ben denies it, the coven leader says that they "can tell these things".
 * Very averted with Sasha Nein of Psychonauts. Despite being an international psychic secret agent superhero, he is almost certainly a virgin.  probably gave him a few intimacy issues. Of course, he sometimes acts Camp Straight ("So... tacky... can't... look... directly... at... it...") but still.
 * However, some memories belonging to Milla (another agent who works with Sasha a lot,) suggest that there is some level of romantic/sexual tension between them. However, since these are her memories, it is entirely possible that this is just wishful thinking on her part.
 * Averted in Final Fantasy II. The infamous scene where Firion is seduced by a lamia queen masquerading as the rebel princess practically cements it, given Firion's hilarious reactions during. Even more interestingly, fandom has embraced this (unusual, considering what most fans are most interested in), Firion's Fan Nickname in Japanese is, quite literally, "virgin."
 * In Final Fantasy VII, a deleted scene had a female prostitute ask Cloud if "this is his first time", to which he can only answer "Yeah" or "I don't remember" (which triggers the flash that indicates he's ). This rather implied Cloud is a virgin (and  ). Doesn't count as an aversion, though, because the scene was deleted, and also because Cloud's status as a man pretending to be a "real man" as an affectation is a key point of his character.
 * Luka in Monster Girl Quest is a Technical Virgin until the end of the second game. The game also features one of the ridiculously rare gender-flipped aversions: Alice, as the Monster Lord in a world where the monster girls rape human males on a regular basis (long story, blame the human goddess), was assumed to be very emphatically not a virgin. Turns out, she was.
 * Played straight in Xenogears. A naive Fei-Fong Wong is teased about sex by a the village prostitute at the beginning of the game. By the climax of the game

Web Comics

 * In Loserz, where two protagonists are virgins and are portrayed as... well... "Loserz." At least, until.
 * In Pandect, Noah is told his true love will be a male "mature lizard Ace who is also a virgin." Since Aces are animals with human souls and bodies, a virgin Ace has never had sex as an animal or a human, and a mature Ace is at least 100 years old, it genuinely shocks Noah when he finally meets one.
 * Inverted in Misfile, where the originally male protagonist was not only a virgin but hadn't even had a girlfriend, only to discover post-misfile that she had already surrendered her virginity to his best friend and mentor, permanently ruining that relationship.
 * In Girl Genius, Gilgamesh Wulfenbach becomes embarrassed if not outright enraged by the idea that anything has happened between himself and Agatha. Other characters don't understand his anger in the least.
 * Amused by his outrage, his father exclaims "Great fire, boy, didn't you date in Paris?" However we find out later,
 * apparently something of a retcon, since when they went back to colorize the early pages, the line becomes
 * Inverted in General Protection Fault, Nick, despite never having been on a date until his mid to late 20s, chooses to abstain from sex with Ki until marriage. Then again, when they are married, they seem to have sex almost constantly on their honeymoon. Hey, they had to wait long enough, what would you do in their place?
 * Averted in Dominic Deegan. Gregory, despite being a virgin for the first several hundred strips, is a very powerful white mage, as noted by his brother when his magic first shows as white fire.
 * He was crippled by the blight, which would also explain why no girl wanted him.
 * Touched upon in The Adventures of Dr. McNinja where Gordito asks the Doctor after
 * Sonichu is about the titular character for the first issue, and he embodies this trope. After the second issue Sonichu fades into the background and the comic recenters around the twenty-five-year old Author Avatar trying to lose his virginity.
 * Ivan from Oglaf manages to be a Technical Virgin despite frequently "having sex done to me" (unwillingly).

Web Original

 * There are at least three examples in Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog:
 * Billy/Dr. Horrible - it's not mentioned whether he's a virgin or not, but he ruminates uncomfortably on Penny and Captain Hammer's relationship. "They're probably going to ...French kiss...or something." This could be virginity or simple deep denial. (The wide-eyed, Beavis-like reaction he has to accidentally picking up one of Penny's underthings in his prequel comic might suggest the former is most likely, though.)
 * Billy's evil moisture buddy Moist has a double date in Act I, and a hot date in Act III.
 * Captain Hammer himself has a line in Act III about how he just might sleep with the same girl twice, and then goes on to announce how he "totally had sex" with Penny.
 * A seriously rare gender inversion comes from The Nostalgia Chick. She lies through her teeth that she got a lot of booty in college and needed to have loads and loads of condoms.

Western Animation
"Francine: Oh my god, you really ARE a virgin! Stan: What... isn't that good? Francine: No. It's awful."
 * Johnny Bravo. Once a group of Amazons tried to sacrifice him to a volcano god, calling him a "virgin sacrifice." Johnny raises his eyebrow curiously. He says "Virgin? Excuse me lady but I'm not...", but gets cut off with a whack to the head.
 * Of course, considering this IS Johnny Bravo we're talking about, he was probably lying.
 * Well, it's a kids show from the mid nineties! This is probably the only way they could hint that he's ever been with a woman at all without actually saying so.
 * Given that the volcano rejected him as a sacrifice and destroyed the entire island in disgust, it's heavily implied he was telling the truth.
 * Which brings up the question of what exactly he would have lost it to that would cause a supernatural spirit to reject him so disgustedly.
 * American Dad: In the James Bond movie parody "Tearjerker":

""OSAAMAAA!!""
 * In case you didn't realize, this dialogue was during sex.
 * Subverted in the Family Guy episode "Peter's Daughter", where a suicide bomber gets to Paradise expecting to get his 72 virgins, only to be very surprised that they are male nerds playing Magic: The Gathering.


 * Reverend Putty of Moral Orel was a virgin, despite having a daughter. The girl's mother used semen from tissues in his trash can to get pregnant. That's right, the man's trash can got more action than he did.
 * He eventurally gets better though, and it goes hand in hand with the softening of his character later on
 * The Simpsons - Skinner's argument that he didn't have sex with Mrs. Krabappel because he hasn't had sex with anyone is considered undeniable. The citizens of Springfield think that no man would admit to being a 45-year old virgin if he didn't have to, let alone pretend to be one if he wasn't.
 * Also the Comic Book Guy was a virgin
 * Zapp Brannigan from Futurama was a virgin