In terms of friends, their sexual history really does not concern me a great deal. Given my age (37) and the age of my peer group, I would be astonished if any of them were actually virgins, and yes women do sit down together and talk about sex. It is a part of life, one of many facets of people and people are the things that interest me the most.
I pretty much consider those old old enough to begin an adult life and who cling to virginity like it is some amazing prize to be ludicrous - the sorts of people who think that it is automatically some magical, wondrous, transcendental act and that when you finally do it cherubs drop from the sky and sing the hallelujah chorus...
While it CAN be magical/wondrous/transcendental, I swear that is more likely to happen when you know what you are bloody doing, when you are experienced and understand your body and theirs a little bit more. I smirk a little at those two virgins finally getting in to their marriage bed and finding that sex is...not necessarily awesome right off the start line.
I consider sexual compatibility to be of critical importance - Yes compromise is a good thing. But if you are fundamentally at odds, it's not great. If one party wants to fark morning, noon and night and the other wants to save it for birthdays, christmas and Guy Fawkes, then how do you reconcile that? And how do you know until you try? Tastes and sex drive evolve with time.
In terms of potential partners, I have deflowered a virgin or two in my younger days (and vaguely recall being one). These days? I cannot be bloody bothered with them. If I am dating someone and it turns out she is a virgin, we're done. I like women who know themselves, know what they like, know how to please themselves. Not that I want them to give me chapter and verse before we start, but just to try having enough awareness of themselves. Hell, I once wanted to toss a virgin out of bed and tell her to go and spend six months masturbating regularly before she even thought of having another go. She had no concept of her own orgasm, what the build up felt like, what was happening, what she could do to make it better. I simply do not want to waste my time with that ever again. It might have been fun to teach someone once, now it is exasperating and dull.
Again, I'm in my 30s, and my partners had better have sorted themselves out before I even bother. I'm not into dating teenagers or early 20-somethings (indeed, I like women a little older than me). So short of starting to pick up former nuns, I doubt it will ever happen again.
Summary TLDR - If you are waiting until you feel mature enough and ready enough to deal with sex and its consequences, fine. Good for you. Keep it safe, sane and consensual. Have fun. If you think it is some mystical act ordained by your deity of choice.... whatever. They wouldn't be the sort of person I socialised with or gave a damn about.