Background-sexual disorders

First heterosexual intercourse

• fallen in the last four decades from 21 to 17 for both men and women
• fewer than 1% of women aged 55 or over report heterosexual intercourse before the age of 16, compared with 20% of those in their teens
• early intercourse is associated with:
• lower social class
• lower educational level
• less likely to use contraception

Heterosexual partnerships

• age and marital status are associated with multiple partnerships
• increasing partner change with increasing social class
• serial monogamy is more common in those aged 16-34, concurrent partnerships are more common in those over 35

Heterosexual practices

• age related to number of acts, with frequency peaking in mid-twenties, then gradually declining
• highest frequency in married and cohabiting groups of all ages
• strong association in all age groups between length of relationship and frequency of sex – lower frequency in longer relationships
• type of intercourse:

• vaginal intercourse predominates
• 75% have experience of non-penetrative sex
• 70% have experience of oral sex
• 14% of men, and 13% of women report experience of anal sex

• those not married have wider repertoire of sexual practice
• prevalence of oral, anal and non-penetrative sex increases with increasing numbers of partners

Sexual diversity and homosexual behaviour

• no sexual attraction of any kind is reported by 0.4% of men, and 0.5% of women
• 90% of men, and 92% of women are exclusively heterosexual
• 1% of men, and 0.25% of women are mostly or exclusively homosexual
• 6% of men and 3% of women report some form of homosexual experience
• lifetime experience of homosexuality is higher in higher social classes
• the majority of those with homosexual experience have had sex with both men and women
• men reporting anal sex do so usually as both the receptive and insertive partner
• highest levels of homosexual activity reported by 25-34-year-olds

Physical health

• multiple sexual partners are significantly associated with:
• smoking
• increasing levels of alcohol consumption
• attendance at STD clinic is associated with:
• number of heterosexual partners
• history of homosexual partnership
• likelihood of termination increases with the numbers of heterosexual partners