The Types Of Sex Women Are Having More Than Ever Before

Women may be having more types of sex
than ever before but less sex overall.
So say the findings from Britain's third
National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and
Lifestyles (Natsal-3), conducted from
2010 to 2012. The 8869 women polled for
Natsal-3 reported higher incidences of
sex before age 16, same-sex encounters
and anal sex than their counterparts in
the first and second Natsal surveys,
conducted in 1990-1991 and 1999-2001
respectively, as well as a declining
frequency in sexual encounters.
Sixteen percent of British women aged
16–44 reported having sexual experience
or contact with a same-sex partner, up
from 10 percent in Natsal-2 and four
percent in Natsal-1. A similar trend was
found when it came to anal sex -- 15
percent of women reported having anal
sex in the past year, compared with 11
percent of respondents in Natsal-2 and 7
percent in Natsal-1.
It's possible that some of these changes
are simply the result of people feeling
more comfortable revealing their sexual
practices then they have been in the past,
perhaps due to decreasing stigma around
various sex acts or different survey
techniques. But, as William Saletan at
Slate put it: "Even if you attribute most
of it to changes in candor or
interpretation, the willingness of so
many women to admit to same-sex
activity represents a big cultural shift."
While the types of sex women are having
seems to be increasing, they may be
having sex less frequently. In 1990, the
median number of times that women
reported having sex in the previous four
weeks was five. This number dropped to
four in 2001, and three in 2012.
One explanation for such a drop is that
people are having less sex because they're
too busy. Professor Kaye Wellings of the
London School of Hygiene & Tropical
Medicine told The Gloss: "Work comes
into our home now and there is no strict
divide. People are taking laptops and
iPads to bed. People are working very,
very hard. They are very busy."
Too busy for sex? That's a sad state of
affairs. But we're glad to hear that
women feel more comfortable engaging
in -- and talking about sex that isn't of
the vanilla, heterosexual variety.