Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - Thursday November 29, 2001
Emma Ross, AP Medical Writer
The survey, which gives the clearest picture to date of the sex lives of Britons, is published this week in The Lancet medical journal.
Researchers say some of the change since the last survey in 1990 is real, but that part of it is attributable to more permissive attitudes today enabling people to be more candid about certain sexual behaviors.
The survey, conducted by University College London, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and the National Center for Social Research, involved interviews with 11,161 people aged 16 to 44, selected randomly from the British population.
The study is designed to help the government refine its sexual health policies, services and education and to produce estimates of HIV infection in the population and future AIDS cases.
"These findings are in line with demographic changes which show that people are getting married later and have more partners before they settle into long-term relationships," said one of the investigators, Anne Johnson, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London. "Changes between the surveys were greatest in parts of the country outside London and among women."
Some of the differences between the 1990 and 2000 surveys probably result from new computer interviewing methods that help people report their sex lives more accurately, she added. Respondents were able to answer sensitive questions without having to tell the interviewer face to face.
Although some of the changes can be attributed to a greater willingness to acknowledge socially sensitive sexual practices, the researchers worded several questions so that any inconsistencies in responses would stand out. They said they were confident the findings presented a truthful picture.
On average, people in Britain have sex as often as they did a decade ago - once a week, the survey said.
But it revealed that although the frequency has remained the same, the incidence of certain behaviors has changed.
The average number of sexual partners over a lifetime rose from four to seven for women and from nine to 13 for men.
The rate of lesbian relationships among London women more than doubled, from 3 percent in 1990 to 7 percent in 2,000, it said.
Ten percent of men living in the capital reported having a homosexual relationship, up from 9 percent a decade earlier.
Nationwide, the proportion of women reporting homosexual encounters went from 2 percent in 1990 to 5 percent in 2000, while for men it rose from 4 percent to 6 percent.
Half of all people with a new partner in the last year said they had sex within one month of meeting.
One in seven men and one in 11 women reported having overlapping sexual relationships in the last year. That compares with one in nine men and one in 20 women in 1990.
Nine percent of London men said they had paid for sex in the last five years, compared with 6 percent in 1990.
Oral and anal sex are both reportedly more common today among heterosexuals than they were 10 years ago. The proportion of women reporting they had engaged in oral sex in the past year increased from 66 percent in the 1990 survey to 77 percent in the latest poll. For men, the rate rose from 70 percent to 78 percent.
Twelve percent of women said they had had anal sex in the past year, compared with 7 percent of women reporting that in 1990.
The figures for men matched those for women in both surveys.
Condom use is up, but experts said the health benefits were outweighed by the risks of having more partners.
More young people are using contraception today when they lose their virginity than their counterparts did a decade ago, the survey found.
The survey also revealed changes in attitudes to sex. Britons have become more tolerant of homosexuality and one-night stands since 1990, but less tolerant of infidelity.
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On the Net:
The Lancet, http://www.thelancet.com
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