No, I would just say, “I’m not ready to have sex,” and they were usually cool with it.

I’m surprised this sounds so unusual to you, as it was definitely the norm for most people I knew at the time. Sure, there were occasional one night stands or sex on the first date situations in my friend group, but overall, there was usually a build up from making out to hand stuff to oral to actual sex over the course of a few weeks.

This was 10+ years ago, so maybe things have really changed, or maybe it’s regional or something, but most girls I knew didn’t just immediately have sex with every single new guy they were dated, but they weren’t prudes either. They still wanted to get some.