In the book she isn't a virgin, but she is sexually inexperienced and strongly implied to be frigid. It's also made clear her S&M fantasies are a scrambled up mix of her self-destructive tendencies, her habit of watching trashy porn and her vivid imagination, and not anything she's actually practiced before in reality or even knows if she really wants. She's too naive to recognize some fantasies don't transition very well into reality.

According to the book, no. It's mentioned that she's had some brief flings with men because, basically, they wanted it and she went along but felt no pleasure.
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Her obvious intimacy issues and lack of experience make me think she was a virgin. And I agree with you: when I was a virgin, I thought about sex and masturbated frequently, so I wouldn't be surprised if she was.

I was thinking the same thing!! I (a virgin) think about sex constantly and am always cooking up kinky situations in my mind. When she was being raped and asked if this was what she was expecting, that immediately assured me of my guess.
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Yes. In the 'bathroom' scene where she first masturbates and then fellates Walter it's clear she's inexperienced and that he's having to 'assist' her. He says afterwards that things will improve between them and she will get better, which to me implied her technique would improve.
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I believe she was a virgin. She said something about being a baby on the inside as well as outside - during the hockey supply room scene. I took this to mean that she was trying to tell him that all of this was new to her. Everything.
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thanks a lot for these very interesting replies
nwonlyfan killed Natalie Wood!

No, it is me who is sorry for this mistake.
The reason she chose this relationship is probably because it is one she knows quite well personally, assuming she had a mother.
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the book author disagrees. According to him
Sorry, the author is female. Also it's no coincidence that the authoritarianism she explores exists between mother and daughter. Also I'm sure that the author is doing more than one thing in her novel
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3. The movie and the book are both commenting, at least to a small degree, on the commodification and objectification of women in contempo society. When men view women as little more than f-kholes, women don't need to be particularly attractive to be pursued.
   the book author disagrees. According to him, this is an alegory about authoritarianism in Austria.
   Applied Science? All science is applied. Eventually.

I mean, if she was at all attractive as a young woman I am certain some guys would have gone after her pretty strongly.
You're missing some of the most crucial points of the movie:

1. She's terribly isolated from others and doesn't know how to connect with them/is ambivalent about connecting with them (so she would be very skilled at evading even a determined man).
2. SHE is in control! Meaning, she could have had sex long ago, and as often as she liked, IF that's what she had wanted.
3. The movie and the book are both commenting, at least to a small degree, on the commodification and objectification of women in contempo society. When men view women as little more than f-kholes, women don't need to be particularly attractive to be pursued.
   Also, "attractiveness," in the way you mean it, has very little to do with having sex otherwise, at least 50% of the population would be celibate. Most humans are quite average-looking.
   "All you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right kind of people."

Its unclear. What I do believe is she never had real sexual pleasure and lived in a fantasy world. She chose Klemmer to fulfill her wishes. So even if she wasn't a virgin in the technical sense, she was a virgin in actually fulfilling her sadomasochistic ideas, until Klemmer

I think so. I mean, if she was at all attractive as a young woman I am certain some guys would have gone after her pretty strongly. She may have listened to her mother more strongly back then though.
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