[SweetCaliCowgirl]

Hi, I'm 17 years old. Never engaged in any sexual activity (lol I'm not like a beast or anything haha I'm just waiting for the right person) and I was curious if even though I'm waiting till marriage for sex or anything having to do with that part of my body if I should still go to a gynecologist?!

[Redneckity]

Yes. Gynecologists aren't just for stds and pregnancy. A yearly exam tests for things like cervical cancer, infections unrelated to sexual activity, and genetic abnormalities that can affect fertility and overall health. Even some common, treatable conditions can become serious when untreated, and life-threatening conditions can often be treated successfully when caught early during a regular exam.

While a little inconvenient and not exactly fun, regular gynecological exams are a precautionary measure all women should take whether they're sexually active or not.

[WildChild]

An exam can be an opportunity for education, ask questions. tell the doc you don't plan to be sexually active but would like to know your body. It also gives the doc a baseline for your health so if problems develop later they know what your history is. Personally I prefer a female GYN, they have the same equipment and understand better where you are coming from with concerns.

[ankh7]

another POV

Bad girl here; I started having sexual intercourse with my fiance a couple months before marrying him in 2008... didn't go to the gyno to get on birth control until oct. or so of 2008. So i've only recently been on birth control, much less BEEN to the gyno.
How old was I? 26. Why wait? For me - I had no outstanding problems, nothing, that made me say "I need to go for help". So I stayed clear until after starting to have sex so that "trauma" wouldn't happen; truthfully = I would cry even thinking about going to a gyno, before I was sexually active... it was so so scary to me; my fiance saw my trauma, & said "Ok well you're so scared, you seem healthy, then put it off until after we start having sex, so you're more stretched out, it doesn't hurt as much, so you're not as traumatised".
I agreed - lame to some who think it's necessary, but... to me it was worth it since I truly didn't have problems down there - no irregular periods, nothing out of the ordinary... and well I wasn't having intercourse. we had a sex life, but nothing ever went in me, so there was no real point.
So when I went to the gyno last year - 1) it didn't hurt. 2) i was having intercourse and so to me, a real reason to be there- to get birth control. and 3) she had a 'spreader' that was the size of a tampon anyway - so i barely felt it. lol
Now if I was having irregular periods & pain you better believe i'd have gone... but I wasn't.. so I didn't.