Virgin Island contestant with rare vaginal condition explains experience in open post

A star of Virgin Island has revealed that she is setting up a support group for people who suffer from vaginismus after she 'couldn't get the help' she needed.

The second season of the reality series, which aims to help adult virgins overcome intimacy issues and have sex, saw 22-year-old Joy open up about struggling to navigate intimate relationships after being diagnosed with the condition.

For those who are unaware, vaginismus is an involuntary tightening of the vaginal muscles whenever something is inserted into it, often causing a stinging or burning pain.

This means that sexual intercourse can be extremely painful and feel impossible for those with the condition.

Joy has now opened up about her experience with vaginismus in a candid social media update, telling her followers how the world 'was suddenly a scary, scary place'.

"It felt like... my body didn't function the way it was supposed to do," she explained via her TikTok account (@joyyrebecca).

Joy, an event coordinator from Falmouth, goes on to explain that she'd often be met with confusion when opening up with the condition, adding: "When I started to tell people, it was as if you were saying you couldn't go for a wee.

"It can be a really isolating experience to go through a condition that the majority of the population doesn't know exists."

It's for this reason that Joy has decided to set up an online support group for other people dealing with vaginismus.

She also highlighted that treatment is often difficult for vaginismus sufferers to access, noting that it's often either 'long NHS waiting lists' or expensive treatment through private clinics.

"People aren't speaking about this enough; there's not enough representation of this," she said.

Meanwhile, Joy found that online support groups were rarely 'encouraging' and rarely included success stories.

"I couldn't get the help that I needed, and that's why I went on national TV to do so," she added. "It literally felt like a last resort for me."

Find out more about Joy's support group in the post below:

"I felt like I was losing hope"

Joy previously opened up about how the involuntary condition had impacted her life in an interview with LADbible, revealing that she'd felt as though God had 'cursed' her with not being able to enjoy sex.

"I felt like I was losing hope," she explained. "I had been in a relationship and still hadn't been able to work through it."

Joy added: "My body isn’t broken, it’s working as it’s kind of been taught to do.

"Through certain religious messaging, cultural messaging, certain traumatic events that have happened. It’s my body responding to situations that have happened and it’s not broken for doing that."

During the series, Joy experienced a connection with fellow virgin Alex, with the pair sharing a kiss at one point.

Although the relationship didn't progress to sexual intercourse, Alex revealed that the pair have since stayed in touch.

"We both didn't have time for a committed relationship or anything like that but we were just having fun with it and then recently we've been more in touch," he said.

Is there treatment for vaginismus?

According to the NHS, treatment for the condition tends to focus on ‘managing your feelings around vaginal penetration’ and ‘exercises to gradually get you used to vaginal penetration’.

This could include:

• Psychosexual therapy - a form of talking therapy which aims to help individuals ‘understand and change their feelings about their body and sex’
• Relaxation techniques - such as practising mindfulness, breathing and gentle touching exercises to help ‘learn to relax the vaginal muscles’
• Sensate focus - Touching exercises to help with relaxation during sex and increase libido
• Pelvic floor exercises
• Vaginal trainers

The health body adds: "Treatment is initially done under the guidance of specialised therapists. You'll then usually be expected to practise some of the exercises at home."