"IF you get to my age and are still a virgin, people think there's something wrong with you. They assume you can't get a boyfriend or are just plain weird."

Lisa is a 27-year-old teacher at a secondary school in Newcastle. She's pretty and vivacious and she certainly doesn't have any trouble attracting boyfriends, but while the teenage girls she teaches are experimenting with sex, she has decided to remain a virgin until she gets married.

"I come from quite a religious family and I go to church every week. As a practising Christian, I don't believe in sex outside marriage so I made a conscious decision to wait.

"I tell people I'm a virgin if they ask but I don't go round shouting about it. My friends know about it and one or two of them are virgins as well but, on the whole, people tend to think it's a bit strange.

"In the old days, there was a stigma attached if you weren't a virgin but now it's the other way around. People can't wait to lose their virginity. You walk past girls of 14 or 15 at school talking about sex with their friends. It's the done thing, it's trendy. People do it because they don't want to feel left out and that's the wrong reason."

The sexual revolution of the Sixties paved the way for a more permissive attitude towards sex. Virginity, once so highly prized, became something to be lost at the first opportunity.

A survey carried out last year by condom manufacturer Durex revealed that more than one quarter of Britons lost their virginity at the age of 15, compared to a worldwide average of 18.

It's hardly surprising that Britain has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe, but the Government was criticised when it introduced a £2m strategy to encourage youngsters to resist peer pressure to have sex. Some organisations said they thought educating young people about safe sex was preferable to advocating abstinence.

In America, the pendulum has swung the other way. Millions of teenagers have pledged to remain virgins until they marry and some actively campaign against sex before marriage. The much-publicised virginity of singer Britney Spears has no doubt encouraged some of her fans to follow suit.

Lisa says: "I think it's very good that people are starting to think about it more, although it hasn't really happened over here. I accept that not everyone is religious but apart from that aspect, there are reasons why people should wait before they have sex. It's a major decision I think at 15 you're just not mature enough to make it. What happens if you get pregnant? It's something your going to have to live with for the rest of your life."

It's an attitude shared by Redcar-born author Karen Louise Taylor whose first novel, Virginity - Is that it?, is published on July 5. Loosely based on her own experiences, the book tells the story of five friends growing up in Redcar during the 1970s.

Karen was brought up in Redcar but now lives in Australia. She took to writing three years ago when she was confined to the house with a serious bout of flu.

With what seems like a disclaimer on the fly leaf - "I don't claim to write literature, I just want to tell my story" - Virginity is not aimed at a highbrow audience. Karen hopes it will stimulate a debate about virginity, which she believes is still a taboo subject. She also hopes it will help teenage readers make informed choices about sex by showing them the kind of situations in which they might find themselves.

She says: "Being in love can make you blind to reality. As they read my novel, I hope many girls will see themselves in it and wake up to reality before they grow up regretting that moment in their life that they will always remember and that will possibly affect all their future relationships.

"Not enough is done in Britain to teach teenagers the difference between love, infatuation and insecurity, which are the real causes of why Britain has the highest rate of unwanted teenage pregnancies in Europe, the second highest in the Western world. Virginity is a precious thing. Little is taught to teenage girls that virginity is not a curse but a blessing."

Lisa agrees. "I think people have to stop regarding their virginity as some sort of albatross round their neck. Having sex for the first time is a major step and you need to think about it carefully, particularly if you're a girl.

"I don't think it's such a big deal for boys. They tend to assume the responsibility for contraception is the girl's and afterwards, they can just walk away. The girl is the one who has to worry about getting pregnant."

But although many young girls know about the risks, they cave in under pressure from their boyfriends.

"There's that old argument 'if you love me, you'll do it' but it works both ways," says Lisa. "Do you really want to be with a boyfriend who will force you to do something you're not ready for? If they love you, they won't force you to do it?"

Two of Lisa's own relationships have collapsed following disagreements about sex. She had been with one boyfriend for more than two years when their differences finally became too much. She told him about her plans to remain a virgin soon after they met and, at first, he seemed to accept it. But as the relationship developed, she realised he saw sex as the natural progression.

"Of course I didn't want it to end but we just couldn't get round it. I've made a choice and I'm going to stick with it, no matter what anyone says. If someone doesn't respect me enough to go along with that, I know they're not right for me."

Virginity - Is that it? by Karen Louise Taylor (ISBN: 0-9542600-0-7)