SpaceMonkey

Hi everybody! Long time member, first time caller. Been wasting the bandwith of you productive form users for free porn for forever now, and now that I need advice I come crawling over to you.

BUT I DIGRESS (This next part is going to take awhile)

Anyway, my girlfriend and I are both 18 and have been together nearly six months. This is her first relationship and my second. She hadn't kissed a guy before me; I went to 3rd base with my first girlfriend. Up until a week or two ago we'd pretty much just been kissing on the mouth/neck/ears and I'd played with her boobs and ass over her clothes. The occasions we talked about things not moving further she said it was because her gut told her she wasn't ready, and since I felt like I went with my gut in choosing not to have sex in my last relationship and have been very grateful of that, I didn't question her instinct and figured she would feel ready at the right time.

Now while the emotional aspect of the relationship has progressed beyond all expectations (I dearly love this girl), the physical side hasn't (although I've been amazed at how good just making out can be). In the last few weeks I've started kissing and licking her stomach, side, and back as well as cleavage, and also sucked on her nipples over her clothes. She is usually able to have at least one orgasm each time we're together, though it should be noted she's extremely quiet about it and most of them I can't tell when this happens.

Last night she was on her stomach and I was kissing, licking and rubbing her back I started gently grinding my crotch into her lower butt/thigh area. This continued and got more and more passionate with both of us enjoying things thoroughly until the point where I decided that underwear washing be damned, I was going to have an orgasm (I once accidently crossed the point of no return once about a month and a half ago). Despite the presence of clothes, it was probably one of the most physically intimate experiences I've had. She found the whole thing perfectly fine and comfortable and enjoyed it a ton also.

While I'd always assumed that the level of intimacy and the base system were closely related, it seems we've become incredibly physically intimate without doing anything overtly sexual. We talked about it tonight and both determined she has difficulty with anything directly and explicitly sexual, with the standard fooling around practices seeming to her more primal and sexual and less romantic than what we're doing now. She likens this connection with her traditional Catholic upbringing and education.

Now with 18 being a sensitive time for all this and me not wanting to ever make this girl I love feel pressured or rushed, I've been fairly cautious in dealing with all this and don't regret that. But I do feel emotionally that we are more than ready to explore more traditional ways to fool around and am looking for a way to make her feel comfortable with that.

Aside from not having reached a certain emotional level with a partner, what reasons might a girl not be ready to fool around? How is a valuable gut-feeling distinguished from the resistance that comes from going outside a comfort zone to try something new and unfamiliar?

Please feel free to offer whatever insight comes to mind as far as what I should do in this situation, whether attempting to progress sexually is a good idea, and what might be the best way to go about that to make her most comfortable with the transition. I'll answer any clarifying questions as soon as I read them.