Periods & Everyday Life

Q&A: What does “pop your cherry” mean? I’ve heard it so many times, but I don’t know what it means.

This is a slang expression that refers to a girl losing her virginity. In some cases, a girl’s hymen (thin membrane in the vaginal opening) breaks when she has intercourse for the first time.  This can cause bleeding and is sometimes uncomfortable. In other cases, the hymen rips during other sexual or non-sexual activities. Regardless, the expression “pop your cherry” refers to the act of having sexual intercourse for the first time.

Well, nothing really gets “popped.”  There are lots of theories of how the phrase came about but it’s basically a crude way of saying that someone has lost their virginity. So, if you hear someone say that they were with someone and “popped their cherry”, it means the person they had sex with was a virgin.  I really hope you never hear that. 

The term “pop your cherry” is slang for the breaking of the hymen. The hymen is about a half-inch inside the vagina and can be broken with penetration or even if you’re just very active. Some girls are even born without them. This term is also used to describe losing your virginity. Personally, I think it’s a silly phrase because different people all have different opinions when it comes to virginity and sex.