Will it hurt the first time I have sex?

Maybe. As a woman, you might feel some pain the first time or even the first few times you have penetrative sex (penis into vagina).

 It’s actually pretty common to hear stories about painful first times.

The two main causes of pain are:

1. The tearing of the hymen

The hymen is a thin layer of skin partially closing your vaginal opening (a few women are born without a hymen, however). 

When the penis enters the vagina, it puts pressure both on the hymen and on the vaginal walls. 

The vagina has an amazing ability to adjust to the penis’s size, so it usually enlarges without a problem. 

The hymen, despite some flexibility, is unable to stretch beyond a certain point, and it often tears, causing mild to moderate pain and sometimes a bit of bleeding.

2. Excessive friction between the penis and the vaginal walls.

When a woman is in a relaxed or unaroused state, her vagina is quite a bit smaller than the average erect penis. 

As arousal increases during foreplay, the vagina releases a natural lubricant to ease penetration, and its walls start loosening. 

If the penis begins to penetrate when the woman is not yet ready, the amount of lubricant could be insufficient and the vaginal walls could still be quite tight, creating resistance to penetration. 

If the man moves his penis in or out too quickly, the excessive friction can cause pain—mainly to the woman but sometimes to the man as well.

Tension can also be a common cause of pain. It is normal to be nervous the first time you have sex. 

Despite how much you might have talked or read about sex, there is no way for you to know precisely what’s going to happen or how you’re going to feel. 

Anxiety can cause the vaginal muscles to tense up, making penetration a bit more difficult and, once again, causing excessive friction between the penis and the vaginal walls.