According to a Canadian website devoted to student dating, a “technological sexual revolution” is upon us. Instead of the “free love,” that characterized their parents’ generation, students are opting for a more modernized route—sex of the cyber kind.
Aiming to explore student views on issues related to sex, dating website CampusKiss.com recently conducted a survey that received 2,484 responses from students from universities and colleges across Canada.
The most overwhelming result? 87 per cent of surveyed students claim to have had virtual sex, with methods ranging from instant messaging to webcams to the phone.
Noah Gurza, one of the founders of CampusKiss.com, said the results are “astonishing.”
“One can almost say that there has been a technological sexual revolution,” he said. “The question becomes, are students pleasing themselves online and foregoing the real thing?
“[That is] undetermined at this point, but at least we know that this type of sex is fully safe [from transmitting STIs]. Next to abstinence, which by and large is extinct, doing it online is the safest sex a person can have,” he said.
Gurza said the survey was held by ing lists of students and notifying them of the survey.
“Every university in Canada was represented in the results, and as such, we can truly say that this was a national survey,” he said.
Having received media coverage from CNN, Reuters, Agence Presse, MSNBC, ABC, CBC, the National Post and more than 200 articles written worldwide, the results have generated interest on a global level, according to a CampusKiss press release.
Gurza said this type of survey—a cross-section of Canadian students’ sexual attitudes—had not been done before, and this helped create diverse media interest in the results.
“Upon reflection, it is very much a testament to the demographic we are dealing with,” he said. “This is a generation that grew up online. Given the net having infused many aspects of their lives, it is only fitting that this would be extended to social elements of their interaction, and by proxy to the sexual dimensions of their lives.”
Out of 2,484 participants, 51 per cent were female while 49 per cent were male. Among questions such as “what’s your favourite position” and “are you usually drunk when you have sex,” the survey explored levels of sexual experimentation.
Forty-five per cent of students claimed to have sex two to five times a week, while six per cent claimed they have sex more than 10 times a week. Seventeen per cent said they have sex once a week and 22 per cent said they do not have sex.
Thirteen per cent of respondents said they’ve had too many sexual partners to count, but 29 per cent said they have had two to five sexual partners, 20 per cent fell into the six to 10 partner category while 14 per cent said they had only one sexual partner.
Out of eight options ranging from public transport to the library, 15 per cent of students said the strangest place they’ve had sex is in their parents’ bed, while another 15 per cent cited this to be a public washroom. One per cent of students said their strangest location for a sexual encounter was in a professor’s office.
When it came to the question of protection and contraception, 55 per cent used condoms, 33 per cent used birth control pills, six per cent did not use protection while the rest opted for methods like the diaphragm and withdrawal.
Only 10 per cent of participants said they were completely satisfied with their sex lives. Thirty per cent said they wanted more experimentation, while 24 per cent expressed a desire for more foreplay.
Gurza stressed the survey results should be interpreted with caution.
“This was not a scientific survey, as that would have only been accomplished through random sampling,” he said. “But [this survey] provides quite an accurate picture of the sexual landscape of students, given the number of respondents.” CampusKiss plans to conduct the “CampusKiss and Tell” survey annually, with the next survey scheduled for Valentine’s Day 2007.
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