Well, that WAS why I made a point of saying ladies/gentlewomen. The lower classes, yes, as you say. Some were foolish, some were victimized... But those who considered themselves gentlefolk did manage, mostly, to mince into old spinsterhood and old bachelorhood with their honor intact.
I can see that you got my over-all point: you get from people what you expect from them, for the most part. And a society that fully expects people to screw around like crazy and not even bother with birth control, or avail themselves of the "choice" that they so diefy, will have an ever-increasing supply of feral children who need feeding until they are big enough to rob you on their own.
You are correct that most gentlewomen/ladies did remain virgins. Knowing that if you trespassed you would be considered ruined and tossed out of the family home, often to die, has a wonderful tendency to keep your feet on the straight and narrow.
I am not advocating people do the same now but a negative consequence does work to make people stop and think before they do something.