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

