The results of Australia's first large-scale national survey of sexual behaviour and attitudes have just been released. Researchers from La Trobe University, The University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales, conducted telephone interviews with 19,307 people aged 16 to 59 in households around Australia.
Interviewees were questioned about their relationships and families, sexual experiences, use of condoms and contraception, sexual satisfaction and difficulties, sexual attitudes and knowledge of sexually transmissible infections.
'Over three quarters of people agreed that pre-marital sex is now acceptable', said principal researcher, Dr Anthony Smith, an associate professor at La Trobe University's Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society.
'Perhaps related to this belief, we found that the age of first intercourse was declining from 18 for men and 19 for women who are now in their fifties, to 16 for both men and women who are now under 21. This finding has significant implications for policy pertaining to health service delivery and sex education programs in schools,' Dr Smith said.
The study found that 87% of people interviewed are in a regular heterosexual relationship, with the majority having lived with their current partner for 12 months or more. Only 5% of men and 3 % of women in a regular relationship have had sex with someone other than their regular partner in the last year
While those who had been in a heterosexual relationship for at least twelve months had sex on average 1.84 times a week, most people wanted more sex. While 85% said they would like sex at least twice a week, only 27% actually had sex this often. Nevertheless most people found their relationships physically pleasurable and emotionally satisfying.
'Vaginal intercourse was by far the most common sexual practice,' said Dr Smith, 'and most (95% men and 79% women) had an orgasm last time they had sex. Nevertheless it was interesting to find that the majority of those with sexual partners (48% men, 72% women) had experienced some sort of sexual difficulty in the last year lasting for at least a month. These difficulties ranged from lack of interest in sex, difficulty with erection, pain during intercourse, or difficulty reaching orgasm.
'A worrying finding was that 5% of men and 21% of women reported that they had at some time been forced or frightened into doing something sexually that they did not want to do,' Dr Smith said.
'Also, nearly one in five Australians have had a sexually transmissible infection at some time in their lives, with approximately 2% having done so in the last year,' he said.
Despite the large numbers of those who reported that their identity was heterosexual (98%), same sex attraction and behaviour was reported more commonly (8.6% of men and 15.1% of women) than the relatively few people who report a homosexual or bisexual identity would indicate. 'This is in line with other similar surveys conducted in Europe, UK and USA,' Dr Smith said, 'and indicates that we live in a society which contains more sexual diversity than is clearly visible.'
