[caption id="attachment_10231" align="aligncenter" width="540"]

Graph indicating the co-relation of age and virginity by those that participated in the survey[/caption]

On October 4, a basic survey was posted on the Trent University Facebook group, enticing students to spill about their sex lives - or lack thereof - anonymously. This article is to publish the most interesting findings of this survey.

The survey was set up of Google Forms and, as the author, I was not able to see any additional information of participants, ensuring anonymity. Soon after the survey was posted, students commented on the Facebook post, critiquing the wording used within the survey. I was happy to update and edit the survey to reflect the students’ suggestions.

A total of 299 respondents provide the data below as a sample of Trent’s student sex culture as of October 16. It appears that the respondents were made up of 70% women and 30% men, assuming all participants identify as cisgender within a social gender binary.

Of the respondents, 26.6% define their sexuality as a label alternative to ‘straight,’ 13.8% of which identify as bisexual/pansexual. One participant in particular identified as ‘hetero-flexible’.

Analyzing the 47 survey respondents that wrote about their sexual fantasies, the two most common fantasies described were bondage and submission/domination. Slightly less common were lesbianism (mostly answered by woman that identify as straight), sex in public, anal play, roleplaying various scenarios, threesomes, and urolagnia.

Group sex, rape play (consensual role playing of rape), age play, sensory deprivation, female ejaculation, and BDSM (bondage, dominance and submission, sadomasochism) were the next most commonly listed fantasies.

According to the survey, three times as many women were forced into sexual activity against their will than men. But considering over twice as many women responded to the survey, I argue that in this case, the statistics are somewhat equal to each other.

Eight respondents admitted to forcing someone to engage in sexual activity while fully understanding what they were doing at the time. An additional nine respondents agreed to this statement while also marking that they have been forced into sexual activity against their will.

One question asked if each respondent knew the location of the clitoris and how to stimulate it. For respondents with a clitoris, 95.2% answered yes. Of respondents without a clitoris, a whopping 85.6% said yes.

It is natural that people with vaginas may not have experienced a vaginal orgasm, but 16.7% of such respondents said they do not know if they have had one. While this can be analyzed as normal, it can also suggest a lack of sexual education.

[caption id="attachment_10236" align="alignright" width="540"]

Graph 2 of sex survey conducted by Reba Harrison[/caption]

These respondents further answered if they were comfortable with the appearance of their vagina. 47.8% said yes, 41% said somewhat, and 11.2% said no. Students with penises were asked the same question. 68.2% said yes, 25% said somewhat, and 6.8% said no.

When given the opportunity to disclose ways that they may feel embarrassed about sex as a whole, 61 students proudly announce that they feel no embarrassment and instead embrace their body, noises, smells, and all other parts of sexual activity.

Body image came in as the largest embrrassment factor with 78 mentions, 14 of which involved smells, sounds (i.e. queefs, flatulence) and sweatiness of sex activity, and 4 of which involved pubic hair of various situations. 11 students specifically mentioned awkwardness around anal arousal, whether requested or not.

A total of 36 students disclosed their performance-based embarrassments of sex, 10 of which specifically talked about achieving an orgasm too quickly or not at all. Some students further worry about erectile performance, that expectations which pornography portray in comparison with their personal sex lives, embarrassment around dirty talk, and awkwardness of condom use.

Have something to say about these findings? Write a letter to the Arthur editor at editors@trentarthur.ca