In high school, her boyfriend of three years was abusive and their sexual activity (oral sex) was “sometimes consensual, sometimes coercive”. Sophie, who last had sex three years ago and briefly identified as asexual, says she’s often held back by anxiety and a lack of comfort. Nic is still looking for “close, intimate connections with people” but says “that doesn’t necessarily mean sex”. There are many reasons – social, cultural, religious, medical – that people (young or old) feel this way. Sophie*, also 24, feels similarly: “So many people need sex in their lives, but for me? I really don’t know.” Nic, 24, has sex about once a year and isn’t really fussed about having more than that. Instead of scolding young people for not having sex which they are in fact having, maybe we could look to them to understand the many ways that modern sex is changing. “It’s unlikely that there’s a simple explanation.” He suggests these “slight changes” could be from people “choosing quality over quantity”, from people being more comfortable saying “no” to a partner, or from an increase in masturbation facilitated by online porn. But in Australia, De Visser thinks the term “sex recession” is “probably a bit extreme”.
See also: Britain, Sweden, Japan, Finland and the US.
Heterosexual couples went from doing it an average of 1.8 times a week to 1.4 times. The figures that are showing declines in sexual frequency are actually from the general population.Īfter surveying people aged 16 to 69, the 2013 ASHR study found that Australians on the whole were having less sex than a decade prior. “Awareness of, and positivity towards diversity in sexuality has increased.” (In 2018, 39% of students said they were attracted to people of the same or multiple genders). “There’s much more inclination to have oral sex prior to intercourse probably a very small increase in heterosexual anal sex.” I have so many friends who are in open relationships and the idea of that would totally spin out my parents Ben, 19ĭe Visser also notes that Gen Z is “more likely to report gay, lesbian, bisexual or other sexual identities”. Photograph: La Trobe Universityĭr Richard de Visser, a psychologist and researcher who contributes to the comprehensive Australian Study of Health and Relationships (ASHR), says he is “not aware of data … that would support the suggestion that young Australians are having less sex”.Īdolescent health expert Dr Melissa Kang agrees: “ really hasn’t changed – and I don’t expect it would.” As both a clinician specialising in young people’s sexuality and a long-time author of Dolly magazine’s “Dolly Doctor” column, Kang has, however, observed a loosening of taboos in sexual practice. LaTrobe University’s 2018 sexual health survey shows a slight increase in penetrative sex among young Australians over time.