Are There Many College Virgins? What Is The Average Age People Lose Their Virginity At? Has The Age Decreased Or Increased Since 1940s, 1950s, 1970s?
There are a lot of questions here, and before I start answering them I have to say that I am not a fan of the term “losing your virginity” for many reasons, reasons that I won’t get into now. If you really want to know I dislike that phrase, feel free to ask that as a question at https://milsteinhealthconsulting.com/heydrsue
I’m going to answer this question by focusing on the age when people report first having vaginal intercourse, because historically that’s what we look at when we talking about “virginity.” It’s important to point out that some people engage in lots of other sexual behaviors before they have vaginal sex, and other people engage only in sexual behaviors that aren’t vaginal sex.
To answer the first question, about a third of the students in my human sexuality classes report that they have never engaged in vaginal intercourse, and that’s been pretty consistent over the last 15 years, and also pretty consistent regardless if I was teaching in the Washington DC area, California or Texas.
While I can’t really give you an idea of data from the 1940s what I can tell you is that today we are seeing people wait longer before they start having vaginal intercourse. Yup, they’re waiting longer. Surprised? Most people are when I tell that that.
How much longer? A study of that was released in 2018, found that the number of US high school students who reported having had sexual intercourse has dropped to 39.5% - that number has been 47.8% in 2007.
Today the average age of first vaginal intercourse is around 17 - 18, depending on what source you’re looking at.
On a random side note, the other thing that decreased during that 2007 – 2017 time frame (by almost 8%) were the number of high school students who reported having used a condom during their last sexual experience, and given that the rate of STIs have been going up, that’s a bit concerning.
But back to first sexual experiences. It’s important to note that when we look back over the decades, it’s not just the age of first sexual intercourse that’s changed. Societal expectations have also been changing.
Back in the 50’s and 60’s people were getting married younger, starting families earlier, and the role of women didn’t always include college and/or a career.
Now people are choosing to marry later, or not marry at all. They’re waiting longer to have children, if they have them at all. We’re seeing more and more couples who are choosing to be childless.
All of these expectations can have an impact on when people choose to start having sex, and for millennials it appears that these factors, as well as others, have led to a delay in their first sexual experiences.
Until next time, be safe and have fun!
Have a question you want answered? Submit it here: https://milsteinhealthconsulting.com/heydrsue
