Sex stats

National Post - June 23, 1999
Canadians aren't prudes when it comes to sex
Tom Arnold

Canadians don't have a hangup about unmarried couples engaging in sexual relations, but they are less accepting of carnal knowledge among teenagers and remain strongly opposed to extramarital sex.

According to an international sex survey of attitudes in 24 countries, reviewed in the current issue of The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, Canadians are much less prudish than other countries, including the United States.

"What about sexual relations between two adults of the same sex?" respondents were also asked. Answers varied with 39% of Canadians polled saying it was "always wrong," while 56% of Swedes said it was "always wrong" and 70% of Americans responded in the same fashion.

In Canada, 69% of respondents believed that premarital sex was "not wrong at all." About 89% of Swedish residents and 41% of Americans held the same view.

About 68% of Canadian respondents felt extramarital affairs were "always wrong," compared to 68% in Sweden and 80% in the U.S.

In another question, respondents were asked for their views if the sex involved children "in their early teens, say under 16 years old?" Responses varied, with 55% of Canadians saying "always" wrong. Just 32% in Sweden, but a whopping 71% in the United States gave the same answer.

More than 33,000 people worldwide were sampled.

The study was conducted by Eric Widmer, Judith Treas and Robert Newcomb of the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. It was originally published in The Journal of Sex Research.

"We were certainly surprised about the fairly striking differences between Canada and the United States," said Alexander McKay, research coordinator for the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada.

"The results of this study say that, in general, Canadians are more tolerant of sexual expression that falls outside the sort of strict norm of sex being only between married heterosexuals. It may mean that Canadians are somewhat more liberal and open-minded."

According to the study, there is widespread acceptance of premarital sex among adults, whether in Canada, Russia, Australia, Great Britain, Israel, Italy and Netherlands. This does not extend to premarital sex between young teens or extramarital sex.

Germany, Austria, Sweden and Slovenia are distinguished by relatively high levels of acceptance of teenage sex and premarital sex.

Canada, as well as the Netherlands, Norway, the Czech Republic and Spain accept premarital sex, reject teen sex and particularly oppose extramarital sex, but are distinguished by a high level of acceptance of homosexuality.

Still, opinion is polarized, with significant numbers believing homosexuality to be "always wrong."

Sexually conservative countries include the United States, along with Ireland, Northern Ireland and Poland, because of relatively strong disapproval for all types of nonmarital sex.

Two Asian nations, Japan and the Philippines, participated in the study. The Philippines was extremely conservative toward all kinds of nonmarital sex. Japanese respondents had an unusual pattern of suggesting that premarital sex is only sometimes wrong, which, according to the researchers meant particularly when it is indiscreet or conflicts with social responsibilities.

In Canada, 1,440 people were surveyed. The average age was 38.1 (slightly lower than many other countries) and 63% interviewed were women (slightly higher than most other countries). The study indicates the number of people surveyed ranged from 647 to 2,494 per country. They were surveyed by individual research institutions based on large, nationally representative samples. Among the methods used were face-to-face interviews and self-completed surveys.