'Virgin Territory' Is Awkward But Important

Apparently, MTV strove to make the most awkward TV series of all time, and succeeded. Because what's more awkward than watching other people try to lose their virginity? If just the thought of that makes you a little uncomfortable, I wouldn't recommend watching Virgin Territory , because this is exactly the kind of thing that's going to go down. But if you think you can get past the inherit awkwardness, Virgin Territory should be worth watching. Every week this MTV docuseries, which premieres Wednesday, July 16, will spotlight four young people and their trials and tribulations as they attempt to either get rid of or keep their v-cards.

Though everyone featured on Virgin Territory is a virgin, that's where the similarities end, as each person will have their own unique story to tell and different reasons for not having sex, be it religious, mental, or emotional. The show will follow 15 people in total, from Lisa, who is waiting until her wedding night to have sex due to her Christian faith, to Dominique, who is a child of divorce with relatives who have had children out of wedlock, to Mikaela who is desperately trying to find the right man to lose her virginity to, to Kyle, who has kept his virginity a secret from his bros. Through tears, laughter, and plenty of awkward moments, the cast tries to make sense of this thing called virginity and when the right time is for them to lose it. Nobody ever said being a virgin was going to be easy.

The aim of this show is to get people to talk openly about sex by "elevating the discussion of responsible sexual health to include the topic of virginity in a way that our audience might find surprising," said MTV's Executive Vice President of Series Development & Head West Coast Unscripted, Lauren Dolgen. And we'd have to agree that this candid and welcoming look at virginity is pretty surprising coming from the network that has brought us extremely sexual music videos, threesomes on The Real World, and teen pregnancy and motherhood on 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, respectively. But MTV has always tried to remain on the cutting edge of pop culture and do the unexpected, so Virgin Territory is definitely in line with that.

All in all, MTV's mission sounds noble enough. Living in a society where we're bombarded with hypersexualized images but also told as women not to be "too sexual" is definitely confusing and frustrating for many people. But this is also reality TV we're talking about here, so we should all expect some degree of not-so-spontaneous situations and drama played up for the camera. Still, anything that can help make people feel more empowered in their decision to have or not have sex has got to be a good thing.

Image: MTV