Wednesday, December 5, 2018 // The Statement
3B
I
n this issue of The State-
ment
Magazine,
we’re
talking about sex. But to
get a comprehensive view of the
campus sexual landscape, we
can’t simply rely on anecdotes
and personal experiences. In
an effort to get some quantita-
tive information about student
sexual activity, The Daily anon-
ymously surveyed 11,000 ran-
domly-selected students abouwt
their experiences and percep-
tions of sex.
The survey received 1,409
responses,
with
respondents
spread evenly across undergrad-
uate grade levels. The respon-
dents were 55.4 percent female,
43.1 percent male and 1.5 per-
cent identifying as nonbinary
or “other.” They were also 83.3
percent heterosexual, 4.5 per-
cent homosexual and 9.3 percent
bisexual. It should be noted the
statistics resulting from this sur-
vey may be biased, as many indi-
viduals may not wish to disclose
such information.
The survey questions covered
several areas, including percep-
tions of sex (both in general and
on campus), sex education and
personal experience. Some nota-
ble statistics and trends emerged
from the responses.
To begin broadly, students
shared differing perceptions of
what “sex” is. While there was
broad (97.3 percent) agreement
that penetrative sex qualifies as
sex, 47.8 percent of students also
considered oral sex to be sex, and
33.7 percent considered any kind
of genital contact to be sex.
Students also reported differ-
ing definitions of “hooking up.”
In total, 75 percent of students
included oral sex and penetra-
tive sex in their definitions, and
67.8 percent included other geni-
tal contact. Notably, 58 percent
included making out in their
definitions.
By these personal definitions,
a total of 65.2 percent of stu-
dents reported having sex during
this semester, with 28.5 percent
reporting that they had sex once
or twice per month or less and
21.5 percent reporting that they
had sex an average of once or
twice per week. Students also
proved to be relatively prescient
about their peers’ sexual habits,
as 50.7 percent of respondents
estimated that between 60 and
80 percent of students had sex
this semester.
A total of 61.9 percent of stu-
dents said they had had mostly
positive sexual experiences in
college, and a total of 77.8 per-
cent of respondents agreed that
they felt comfortable discussing
sexual topics with friends.
Students also reported using
dating apps at significant rates.
The most commonly used dating
app was Tinder, with 47.8 percent
of respondents saying they use it.
The next highest was Bumble,
with 20.6 percent reporting
they use it. However, most stu-
dents using these apps reported
they don’t use them to actively
look for partners. A majority of
57.7 percent of students who use
dating apps use them primar-
ily for casual browsing — that is,
without the primary intention of
finding a partner. Most students
had used the internet for sexual
activity, and a total of 57.3 per-
cent of students reported they
had sent a nude photo or received
one from someone they knew.
Responding to a question
about contraception, 73.8 per-
cent of students named condoms
as a preferred method of contra-
ception, and 51.3 percent named
birth control pills. Intrauter-
ine devices were chosen by 16.4
percent, and withdrawal (also
known as “pulling out”) and
abstinence were each chosen by
15.8 percent of students.
The data also revealed some
subtle differences in sexual atti-
tudes by gender. For example,
women were 13.8 percentage
points more likely than men to
say they were comfortable open-
ly discussing sexual topics with
friends. And when it comes to
using dating apps, women were
21.2 percentage points more like-
ly to be using the apps primarily
for casual browsing. Men were
6.8 percentage points more likely
to be looking for a relationship on
these apps and 16.2 percentage
points more likely to be looking
to hook up.
Men were also less likely to
consider most sexual activity to
be “hooking up,” with the excep-
tion of penetrative sex, which
had similar perceptions among
men and women.
There were also notable dif-
ferences in experience by sexual
orientation. For instance, gay
and lesbian students were about
twice as likely as other students
to have had five or more sexual
partners in college. The data also
revealed some troubling differ-
ences between students of differ-
ent sexual orientations. Straight
students were 10.4 percent more
likely than bisexual students to
say that they had mostly posi-
tive sexual experiences in col-
lege. Gay and lesbian students
fell in the middle of these groups.
(It should be noted that majori-
ties of all three groups reported
mostly positive experiences).
In the free response section,
which asked several general
questions about sex and relation-
ships, responses varied wide-
ly but followed some general
trends. In response to the ques-
tion “What is the worst thing
to hear from your partner after
sex?”, the most common response
by a significant margin was a
comment that the experience
was negative or underwhelming
for the partner. Other frequent
responses included rude, dis-
missive or uncaring comments.
Asked about their favorite post-
sex activity, responses consis-
tently included activities such as
cuddling, talking, sleeping, eat-
ing and showering.
For the question “What sug-
gestions would you like to give
to your current sexual part-
ner?”, respondents frequently
expressed a desire for better
communication from their part-
ner. Other frequent answers
included requests for more sex-
ual attention and a desire to be
more adventurous in sexual rela-
tionships.
Students also expressed a gen-
eral dissatisfaction with the sex
education they received. Asked
about what they wished they
knew about sex when they were
younger, most students said they
wished they had a more com-
prehensive view of sexual activ-
ity. Many students said they had
abstinence-only sex education
in school and that it left them
unprepared for sexual situations,
as well as uninformed about con-
sent and safe sex. Many also said
that their sexual education most-
ly just covered basic anatomical
information about sex. These
students generally wished that
they learned more about healthy
sexual relationships, emotional
aspects of sex, gender dynamics
and unhealthy societal percep-
tions about sex.
BY RILEY LANGEFELD, DAILY STAFF REPORTER
The annual sex survey
ILLUSTRATION BY VALERIE CHRISTOU