Shocking Study: Most Americans have had premarital sex

[Herman Munster]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/20/ap/national/mainD8M485580.shtml

(AP) More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past. "This is reality-check research," said the study's author, Lawrence Finer. "Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades."

Finer is a research director at the Guttmacher Institute, a private New York-based think tank that studies sexual and reproductive issues and which disagrees with government-funded programs that rely primarily on abstinence-only teachings. The study, released Tuesday, appears in the new issue of Public Health Reports. The study, examining how sexual behavior before marriage has changed over time, was based on interviews conducted with more than 38,000 people _ about 33,000 of them women _ in 1982, 1988, 1995 and 2002 for the federal National Survey of Family Growth. According to Finer's analysis, 99 percent of the respondents had had sex by age 44, and 95 percent had done so before marriage.

Even among a subgroup of those who abstained from sex until at least age 20, four-fifths had had premarital sex by age 44, the study found. Finer said the likelihood of Americans having sex before marriage has remained stable since the 1950s, though people now wait longer to get married and thus are sexually active as singles for extensive periods.

The study found women virtually as likely as men to engage in premarital sex, even those born decades ago. Among women born between 1950 and 1978, at least 91 percent had had premarital sex by age 30, he said, while among those born in the 1940s, 88 percent had done so by age 44. "The data clearly show that the majority of older teens and adults have already had sex before marriage, which calls into question the federal government's funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for 12- to 29-year-olds," Finer said.

[Botany]

1. Wow ... people screw

big news! :rofl:

[hlthe2b]

2. Love this statement:

"Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades."

....

[SoCalDem]

50. decades? try EONS..

urges are powerful..and most do not resist :evilgrin:

some may have SAID they did..but we know people lie about "personal stuff"

[Retrograde]

53. they even did it in the 19th century!

I recently finished biographies of Henry Ward Beecher and John D. Rockefeller. The first, a Civil War-era preacher, was noted for his extra-marital affairs -which didn't seem to phase his congregation much. The latter's father kept an extra wife or two, sometimes on the side but occasionally living with the first wife and family. And those are just two people who were prominent enough to have biographers. I'm sure a lot more went on that wasn't remarked on at the time.

[marmar]

3. Someone PAID for this study?

:rofl:

[karlrschneider]

6. Paid is bad enough, what I wonder is why somebody thought a 'study' was NEEDED!

:eyes:
:eyes:

[Kelly Rupert]

22. Because sexual behavior is an important aspect of sociology.

And if you don't actually record the obvious, you'll get the abstinance-only wingnuts saying "It makes sense not to teach kids about condoms, because most people only have sex with their husband/wife!"

[alcibiades_mystery]

45. Ding ding ding

The difference, of course, is between academic standards of proof in the sciences, and casual folk knowledge in the social "gen pop."

"Everybody Knows" is a great Leonard Cohen song; but, as I tell my students, it doesn't amount to a rigorous demonstration. ;-)

[TwilightZone]

4. So, all of those people demanding that everyone abstain from pre-martial sex...

...had it themselves.

But then, that's not a surprise. We already knew they were hypocrites.

[gollygee]

Hopefully that will wake up people trying to use

abstinence-only education as a way to protect kids from stds and teen pregnancy.

[DaveJ]

9. Teens should still consider abstinence

Anyone who is not mature enough to consider the consequences of their actions should still be educated.

[gollygee]

13. Maybe they should, but they obviously don't

they have to be taught how to protect themselves

And using birth control and condoms IS taking responsibility.

[DaveJ]

19. Agreed... mostly

But I remember a time when abstaining from sex in HS was considered 'uncool'. That is not so much the case anymore, and that is a good thing. Using birth control is mature, but many don't, and when we start saying it's okay to our children to have sex as long as they use a condom, that's just one step away from the boy 'not feeling like it'.

[mongo]

26. We should be teaching condoms plus

and encourage all young women 15 and over to be on the pill - even if they are not sexually active, yet.

[Clark2008]

32. Encourage ALL young women to be on the pill?

No, no, no!

I agree that there needs to be sex ed and the proper use of birth control, but those hormones aren't good for everyone! I, for one, cannot take the pill - many women can't. It messes with our own delicate hormonal balances and causes very serious physical damage.

Should we encourage young women to be on the pill? Yes - but ONLY if they can take it.

[mongo]

49. Fair enough

[gollygee]

41. Yeah the pill isn't safe for a lot of women

I can't use it either.

[Jacobin]

5. abstention only...gives it a new meaning. ten percenters

[cutlassmama]

7. shocking

The part that is shocking is that it took so long for someone to admit it

[Arkansas Granny]

8. As a woman born in the 1940's, I can tell you that I'm not shocked.

Very few of the girls I knew in high school were virgins when they married, and most of us married young.

[dorktv]

10. Wait a goshdarn minute, so I have to stop making jokes about

former gubnatorial candidate Len Munsil's knocking up his wife before they were married?

[dorktv]

16. I love this line: He insisted there was no federal mission against premarital sex among adults.

[Selatius]

11. America is gonna burn in hell! Do you hear that!?

You are going to burn in the fires of hell for fornication! Every one of you deserves to die for transgressing against God! Damn all infidels to hell! America deserves all the misery it is currently suffering because they have offended God! God is great! God is great! God is great!

:sarcasm:

[AspenRose]

12. "More than nine out of ten?"

Why don't they just say everybody? :shrug:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

18. The few that don't are repressed GOP

child-molesting, gin-swilling, coke-sniffing asshats.

In other words, the kind that get elected.

[RC]

14. And the other 10% weren't planning on getting married

So they weren't having premarital sex were they?

[Generator]

15. It's the post marital kind that's the real killer

How many cop to that horror?

[AspenRose]

17. Ask Chuck Norris

Sorry I couldn't resist....

[Generator]

20. Oh fine! I will change my spelling

And you will look the fool instead, not I! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm like, what Chuck Norris? Oh yeah..he's cute.

[Porcupine]

54. That's where the percentages reverse.

People sometimes admit to having sex after marraige but when you ask them if it was with their own spouse the percentages sure do drop.

[Gman]

21. Don't tell FR

they'll freak!

[lolly]

31. They'll freak?

Why? Because they comprise the vast majority of the "Nine-percenters?"

on edit--didn't read through the article carefully--make that "1-percenters"

[On the Road]

23. This is Really Something

That is a very high rate of sexual activity and demonstrates the huge amount of hypocrisy going on since at least the 50s and probably forever.

What is particularly amazing is how little the percentages have changed over the decades. The repressive 50s, the libertine 60s, the even more libertine 70s, the just-say-no 80s -- apparently people are just going about their sex lives regardless of the social climate.

Whatever you and I might assume, seeing it in a longitudinal study with 300,000 respondents is something else.

[seabeyond]

24. 32 when i got married. duh.... i also have a kick ass marriage

glad i didnt "settle" cause i didnt want to wait until 32 to have sex

[Connie_Corleone]

25. We're screwed!!

[BlueStorm]

27. I'm actually a virgin and I'm 26

I did so out of choice, not because of some religious thing, that and I'm afraid it will hurt :|

But no, I am not surprised by this finding. Geez, now I really feel like a loser.

Blue

[Herman Munster]

28. well you shouldn't feel like a loser

It's one thing if you are self-confident in yourself and are making a conscious choice to abstain for whatever reasons. It's quite another to be afraid of sex. That sounds more like a social anxiety disorder or phobia that you should take steps to treat.

If it's really a big deal for you, go to a professional for help. Prostitution is legal and regulated in the rural counties of Nevada. It's also probably much safer sex than anything you'll find in a club or a bar.

Nevada law requires brothel employees to get tested for HIV and other STD's on a biweekly basis. Safe sex is also mandatory for all types of sexual activity.

[skipos]

30. I was the same way, there is no reason to feel rushed. nt

[njdemocrat106]

36. Same here

I'm 26, and I've never had sex, probably because I'm not that good looking (at least IMO).

[BlueStorm]

37. That's how I feel as well, I really feel unattractive...

Here are some photos of me with minimal make up on:





one with wig on:



Then here is the one from a few years ago in a bathing suit, this was even commented on at the site that is unmentionable, they were making fun of me because of my butt.



The thing is, is that I used to be real skinny when I was little. When I got into the 8th grade I started to get chunky. In high school I was around 160-170 lbs. It wasn't until after I was hospitalized as an outpatient at Pine Rest that I ballooned up to what I am now, at 198lbs. Damn psychotropic drugs can do that to you.

So yeah at one point in my life (when I was a kid, I was skinny and such. Now I am fat and ugly and it does not help when your mother keeps mentioning to people about how skinny you were when you are kid (Oh but I'm not doing that to put you down, I'm just mentioning how skinny you were when you were little.) But it's the comments that she makes that gets to me. She would tell people about how attractive I was etc. etc. About how I once modeled for one of the Kendall College photography students who was making a fashion portfolio. She keeps telling me she is concerned for my health but some of the comments she makes does make me wonder if she has a secret wish.

Blue

[magellan]

39. BlueStorm, you're not ugly!

You have a very pretty face, and that wig flatters your features. Not to be nosy, but is there a reason you couldn't grow your hair out to that length?

But don't listen to me. Don't let strangers or anyone else define you, including your mother. Define yourself. Do it now. Be serious about it and learn to value who you are, flaws and all, before you get to be my age, because it's all the harder when what little you did like about your physical self starts deteriorating on a daily basis! ;) Remember -- cliche as it is -- what's truly important isn't what's on the outside, but on the inside. Who we are on the inside is what makes or breaks our long-term relationships with others.

Try this little experiment: talk with a loved one and be aware of what about them you're paying attention to. Is it their clothes? Their figure? Or is it their eyes? And not really their eyes either, but the person you're tuned to who lives behind those eyes. That's where we truly connect with others. The rest is frou-frou, visual clues to the health and general well-being of a person, and while those clues can be helpful they can also be misleading, taken on their own.

Anyone who can't be bothered to see past the physical you is not worth your time! That wisdom applies to everyone no matter what charms they're blessed with or not.

Be kind to yourself. Remember that if only the (highly overrated) "beautiful people" of society ever fell in love, got married and had children, the human race would have gone extinct a long time ago. And the next time your mother reminds you or others about how skinny you used to be, just smile as you think about how much she's changed since you were a little girl.

:evilgrin:

[BlueStorm]

52. Thank you for your wise words magellan..

I have short hair because I choose to. I can grow my hair out but I have never liked long hair. I have worn that wig to my grandad's funeral before. I don't like long hair because I don't like the feel of it on my face and neck.

Blue

[magellan]

55. I hear you

One day several years ago I couldn't bear the feel of my hair hanging in my face anymore so I had it cut very short. This past year I started growing it back again. It's now down around my shoulders and so far so good, but there still are days it drives me nuts and I have to clip it back!

I'm glad if I could be of some small help. Keep smiling, BlueStorm. The good days are worth all the garbage ones. :)

[dorktv]

56. My best friend is a public defender, 26, well educated, and...

a virgin. Will be such until he gets married. So no need to feel like a loser!

He thinks I am a loser for having had sex before marriage though.

[Lisa]

57. BlueStorm, please don't feel sad ...

I know this from personal experience -- whether one has or hasn't had sex isn't as important as many, many other choices that one makes. I would like to believe that this is only a small part of a person's identity, and does not have a bearing on how kind, loyal, courageous, intelligent, or creative one is (which are surely things that are more important in day-to-day life).

I'm in my 30s, and I know that there are quite a few of us out there. By the way, I'm not a religious person either, and I do get a chuckle out of the fact that I've had much less "hanky panky" than most (probably the vast majority!) of the folks who are out there condemning everybody else for being libertines!

Actually I'm happy to see this study, because it confirms my belief that people these days aren't as "bad" as some older folks (certainly not all!) have been ranting about. My parents, for example, wanted me to believe that they'd had a storybook romance as youngsters ... and it wasn't until I met people who'd known them in their 20s and 30s, before I came along, that I got a more realistic picture. (And I forgive them. They've been married since 1961 and are elderly now, so if they want to fantasize a bit, who am I to judge?) So this only reinforces my belief that if and when I do meet someone I like and trust enough, I needn't feel guilty.

[taught_me_patience]

29. I bet fundies start to question the validity of this study

They simply cannot bear the news that their "whacked out" ideas are not mainstream at all!


taught.

[cool user name]

33. I must admit ...

I've had pre-marital sex.

In fact, I'm having sex right now ... and I'm not married. :evilgrin:

[Der Blaue Engel]

34. You're posting while having sex??

Now that's talent! :D

[alcibiades_mystery]

46. He's also eating pastrami, the most sensual of all the salted cured meats

:-)

[tyedyeto]

35. Shocking? To whom?

In my 54 years on this planet, this is one of the lamest studies I've seen or heard about.

Who really gives a shit if someone has pre-marital sex?

[BlueStorm]

38. Why am I suddenly reminded of LaTour's song, "People Are Still Having Sex?"

from 1991?

People Are Still Having Sex
LaTour

Have you noticed, that people are still having sex?
All the denouncement, had absolutely no effect.
Parents and counselors, constantly scorn them.
But people are still having sex and nothing seems to stop them.
Do you realize that people are still having sex?
They've been told not to, perhaps they are perplexed.
When you see them holding hands, they're making future plans to engage in the activity.
Do you understand me?
People are still having sex.
Lust keeps on lurking.
Nothing makes them stop.
This aids things not working.
People are still having sex.
It's been going on for quite awhile.
Perhaps it's quite fashionable.
It hasn't gone out of style.
It's a fact that people are still having sex.
It's rather obvious, it's just what one expects.
The evidence is all around.
That everyone in every town has had it one time, or another in their life.
At this very moment people are still having sex.
In a downtown condo, or street in the projects.
Although you can't see them or hear their breathing sounds.
Someone in this world is having sex right now.
People are still having sex! (x4)
Sex! Sex! Sex! Sex!
Sex! Sex! Sex! Sex!
People are still having sex.
Lust keeps on lurking.
Nothing makes them stop.
This aids things not working.
People are still having sex.
It's been going on for quite awhile.
Perhaps it's quite fashionable.
It hasn't gone out of style.
People are still having sex (x4)
Sex

IIRC, that was one weird song, oh and the video was trippy as hell.

Blue

[cool user name]

42. I love that song ...

I'll see if I can find it on youtube. Be right back. :hi:

Edit: Found it.

Video

[BlueStorm]

51. Told ya it was trippy...

I like that video when I was a kid, it was just very eccentric.

I remember some kind of controversy being around that song, or am I thinking of something else?

:hi: back

Blue

[JNelson6563]

40. *gasp*

Hell I'd've been glad to tell them this for HALF of what they paid!

Julie

[librechik]

43. huh--aren't about 40% of those supposed to be evangelical Christians?

what hypocrites.

[deepthought42]

44. Wow...I feel so left out now...lol n/t

[Goblinmonger]

47. Fuck yeah, the atheists are winning.

Our evil plan is coming to fruition.

[porphyrian]

48. I'd only be surprised if this surprised someone. - n/t