Nation’s Secret Sex Life Revealed

The latest results of a massive government study on sexual behavior yielded some pretty surprising results recently. It’s the seventh time the survey has been done since it first got started in swinging 1973. Created by the Department of Health and Human Services, this latest poll of Americans between the ages of 15 and 44 was conducted between 2006 and 2008.

These are some of the highlights from the subtly named “National Survey of Family Growth” that caught our attention (given the title, we couldn’t help but wonder if these folks even knew they were being quizzed on sex):

• Among 15 to 24 year olds, 29 percent of females and 27 percent of males said they’ve never (ever!) had sexual contact with another person. According to the Washington Post, these figures are up 22 percent from 2002.
• About 4 in 10 adults say they’ve engaged in anal sex. But most of the responses were specific to opposite-sex relations.
• Women are more likely than men to have same-sex experiences (or at least they admit to it more often).
• And generally females between the ages of 20 and 24 report having more lesbian experiences followed by the 25 to 29 group.
• White and African-American women most often admit to engaging in same-sex behavior compared to women of other races.
• When asked how a person identifies her sexual orientation (with choices of heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and something else), women describe themselves as “something else” more often compared to men.
• More younger women (18-19 years old) identify as “bisexual” compared to women polled over the age of 20.
• More men tend to describe their sexual orientation as “something else” compared to the bisexual or even homosexual labels.

The survey definitely doesn’t account for guys on the “down low” who notoriously deny getting busy with other guys. We also wonder if the face-to-face interview style had any impact on how people answered (particularly young people who said they’ve never had sexual relations, like, ever). So much for shows like Skins and the OC that supposedly depict real-life teens in sexual frenzies.

Either way, the results will be used by various government agencies, like the CDC, to determine how funding and other support should be shared when it comes to sexual health and wellness in the U.S.