Sex and the student

Students at university undoubtedly have a lot of sex, perhaps more than any other demographic. Once off to university you are living away from your parents, generally for the first time. You have a new-found freedom, and not only that but a place of your own away from parental judgment. It’s only natural that you are more likely to bring people home. As well as that, there is a major drinking and partying culture at most universities. The combination of lowered inhabitations due to alcohol and opportunities for debauchery created on the dance floor is one that often leads to a night of passion. But really, it’s simple maths. If you put so many young people in the confined spaces of a university, the chances of finding someone you want to sleep with are significantly higher.

So, could it be said that students are having too much sex? This is a tricky question, as ‘too much’ is a relative term. How do we decide when it counts as too much? Well, we could see it as a generational thing, and wonder if our parents would approve of our bedroom antics. However, we can’t know what they were getting up to in their student days (unless you have a very open relationship with your parents), and it’s actually very unlikely that things were much different. Since the 70’s and the creation of the contraceptive pill, young people have been having much more casual sex without the fear of getting pregnant.

That’s not to say there aren’t risks to sleeping around. Pregnancy and STDs are still a big issue. However, with so many more options for contraception available and a much better sexual education, it seems that students these days are being safer than ever. It’s even common practice to have condoms handed out for free during Freshers week. Some might see this as (wrongly) encouraging sex, even pressurising people into it, but really it is promoting safe sex and ensuring there are none of those ‘oh well, let’s just do it anyway’ moments.

One thing that is still a problem with having so many sexual encounters is that a lot of them can happen while drunk on nights out. At the very least this might lead to regret (especially when there’s a chance you might see them on campus!). But there is also the very real danger of putting yourself at risk of being taken advantage of. This could happen to anyone whether they have a lot of sex or not, but it could be argued that the high level of sex at university can lead to people acting more inappropriately than they would do otherwise.

There’s also a tricky issue of reputation. It has long been the complaint of women that if they sleep around they get called sluts, while men who do the same are considered studs. I’m not going to go into this issue in depth (that’s a whole other article!) but this kind of negative response to people having had a larger number of sexual partners is purely circumstantial; depending on the situation and the people involved, there is as much chance of no one caring as there is to be name calling.

While students may be having sex and lots of it, it’s personal opinion whether it can be considered as too much. In my opinion, as long as it’s consensual and you use protection, you can do what you like.