Is Colin Bridgerton a Virgin?
With the announcement that Bridgerton Season 3 will feature the friends-to-lovers story of Colin and Penelope – the right choice in my estimation – thoughts and questions started racing through my head. One of the first, and one that surprised me, was a question I hadn’t even thought to ask before:
Is Colin Bridgerton a virgin?
This might be a bit of an odd question, but I am hoping the answer is yes, and I have both practical and thematic reasons why.
Let’s tackle the practical first. Colin is still young and definitely not a rake like his brothers. He’s never been shown in any rakish activities and certainly doesn’t have the reputation of one. When he meets Marina, he is clearly very aware of propriety, of having the door closed, even stopping them before things go any further. It’s all very sweet, tender, gentlemanly. Maybe even a little timid? I can’t imagine seeing Anthony in that position handle things the same way. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s wholly inexperienced, however, and it could be that he had a bit more romantic views or less casual attitudes around women and sex than his brothers.
Anthony also mentions that he should have taken Colin to brothels. Of course, Colin very well could have been pursuing amorous activities on his own or while at university and out with friends, but it’s also very much an unconfirmed thought. The way Anthony puts it makes it sound like, at least from his point of view, Colin hasn’t had the experience before. That’s where we leave him in Season 1.
He also could, of course, have become much more experienced on his travels, but when Penelope asks him if there was a woman, he is very dismissive of that idea. Again, doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a woman or several in his travels, that touched his body but not his heart. Still, there is no evidence that he has, either.
Now let’s come at this idea from a thematic and story perspective. First off, Season 3 is friends to lovers, and the new showrunner has talked about the sweetness and the comedy of these two in comparison to the previous seasons. Colin is not nearly as dark and brooding as Simon and Anthony. He maybe doesn’t have as much of that giant, emotional hole the previous leads were filling with sex and various kinds of debauchery. Moreover, having two rakes in a row was quite pleasant, but three might start to seem a bit repetitive.
Of course, he doesn’t have to be a virgin to not be a rake, but, I mean, wouldn’t it be great if he was?
Obviously I adore Outlander, and one of my favorite moments from the entire show is when Claire discovers that beautiful, rough and tumble, self-assured, gallant Jamie, who is the same age as Colin, by the way, is a virgin. And the ensuing wedding night is glorious. That might be the biggest understatement I’ve ever managed. The ensuing wedding and night is my favorite hour of television ever filmed. Full stop.
So, the eroticism of male virginity is definitely present, and it’s something that’s not often talked about. We tend to gloss over the unique vulnerability of men on their first times. We tend to treat it as something that’s just thrown away, gotten out of the way, until they can learn to be better lovers. It’s a sad state of affairs for young men as it often ignores the emotional components of sex. Purity culture for women is deeply damaging, but so is promiscuity culture for men. Pressure in any direction is never good, and with Bridgerton highlighting representation in such a powerful way, I think this would be an amazing choice.
It would truly be the pinnacle of the friends to lovers trope, with two young people who feel more comfortable with each other, who know each other better, than anyone else, discovering their own bodies as well as their partner’s, for the first time. It’s so sweet, so tender and loving, so perfect for Colin and Penelope, that it makes me get a little misty. It would be a unique, beautiful, messy form of eroticism that could light up the screen, and I am here for it.
So is Colin a virgin? Maybe. Should he be? I think so.
