So first of all I know this isn't something new and a lot of people have experienced this, but please hear me anyway: A few years ago as a teenager I decided to save myself for marriage. I am willing to marry early, but I believe marriage to be something special that should last a lifetime so I try to stay pure and be special for him as well.

I may have to add that I am German and it seems way less common to wait with sex than in America (at least as far as I can tell, only knowing the US through the internet). I guess that's mostly because of the religious component that we mostly lack.

I am 18 now and people react strangely to my believes: my mother asked me if I would be into women instead, my girl friends think that I am just a shy prude and don't believe me I really want it that way and boys don't seem interested at all in me if I tell them.

My mother also said that living like this will limit the number of men wanting me drastically and I see where she is coming from with this. Is it really the case? How doable is staying a virgin until marriage nowadays? Do you think it is better to gather experience for your future husband or to stay pure for him? How to react to people talking me down because of this?