Reality check: 95 percent of Americans had premarital sex

[Jason]

Reality check: 95 percent of Americans had premarital sex - CNN.com

More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex, according to a new study. The high rates extend even to women born in the 1940s, challenging perceptions that people were more chaste in the past. "This is reality-check research," said the study's author, Lawrence Finer. "Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades." Finer is a research director at the Guttmacher Institute, a private New York-based think tank that studies sexual and reproductive issues and which disagrees with government-funded programs that rely primarily on abstinence-only teachings. The study, released Tuesday, appears in the new issue of Public Health Reports. The study, examining how sexual behavior before marriage has changed over time, was based on interviews conducted with more than 38,000 people -- about 33,000 of them women -- in 1982, 1988, 1995 and 2002 for the federal National Survey of Family Growth. According to Finer's analysis, 99 percent of the respondents had had sex by age 44, and 95 percent had done so before marriage.

[Jack]

According to Finer's analysis, 99 percent of the respondents had had sex by age 44

Not for the first time, I'd presume. The remaining 1% are geeks still living in their parent's basement.

So much for family values.

[kubedawg]

21, and still a virgin. Not proud nor ashamed. Just haven't found 'the one.' It has nothing to due with family values.

[Jack]

Only 23 years to go! Come on, you can do this! We're all with you...

[Cephus]

Of course, the study doesn't say who they had sex with. If 90% of the respondents had sex with the person they were engaged to before marriage, that's quite a bit different than trying to imply that people have random sex before marriage, isn't it?

[ByaKya]

Quote by: Isherwood Only 23 years to go! Come on, you can do this! We're all with you...

I was going to make a joke about bisexuals, but I'm on thin ice.

So where are the wholesome family values crowd to argue against this? They seem subdued lately for some reason ?

[Epistemologist]

Unfortunately for you, that's believable. Well, I don't know, I guess it's a remarkably satisfying experience; along those same lines, however, I think that it's selfish. It represents the further corruption of your pseudo-culture to insidious individualistic egotism. Your pseudo-society is now simply a collection of primitive, egocentric individuals looking to satisfy and preserve only themselves. Whatever.

[Praxius]

Don't forget everybody..... 94.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

But even if it is accurate, which wouldn't surprise me, it doesn't bother me.... not only would I rather everybody screwing like rabbits, then shooting each other, but you got everybody worried about the baby boom generation disappearing and not enough workers to replace them..... You'd think this was a good thing.

[Fonceai]

My wife goes to church with a woman who lost her virginity at the age of 18, but she lost it to her future husband. According to her religion, she never did anything wrong. Her other friends say that she's missing out and she can't say whether her husband is good in bed because she has no basis for comparison.

[Cephus]

Quote by: Fonceai My wife goes to church with a woman who lost her virginity at the age of 18, but she lost it to her future husband. According to her religion, she never did anything wrong. Her other friends say that she's missing out and she can't say whether her husband is good in bed because she has no basis for comparison.

Which, of course, is stupid. Who cares? Marriage isn't about picking the best sexual partner and holding try-outs, it's about finding someone you can live with for the rest of your life.

Her friends are morons.

[ByaKya]

Quote by: Praxius Don't forget everybody..... 94.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot. .

Unless they are official and scientifically published like this one

[Epistemologist]

Quote by: Cephus Which, of course, is stupid. Who cares? Marriage isn't about picking the best sexual partner and holding try-outs, it's about finding someone you can live with for the rest of your life. Her friends are morons.

Indeed, those who look only for sex and personal satisfaction are truly selfish people. They should be gone from this planet.

[Osborn F Enready]

Epistemologist said: Indeed, those who look only for sex and personal satisfaction are truly selfish people. They should be gone from this planet.

Those are pretty strong words.....

I can remember someone else recently saying the same thing about Jews and getting politically, and media crucified.

[Epistemologist]

Quote by: Osborn F Enready Those are pretty strong words..... I can remember someone else recently saying the same thing about Jews and getting politically, and media crucified.

I'm trying to help everybody. If I was selfish and looking for my self-preservation, then maybe I wouldn't have said that. Sometimes strong words are necessary. Eh, I see your point.

[Praxius]

Quote by: Epistemologist Indeed, those who look only for sex and personal satisfaction are truly selfish people. They should be gone from this planet.

Yeah but do you want to spend the rest of your life with someone who's crappy in bed and isn't willing to do things you are?

Sex isn't the only thing to look in a relationship for.... but it is also a good chunk of the factor to consider. Down to the core of it all, relationships are geared towards reproduction, so just to marry someone for the sake of getting along with them is also just as bad as those who marry for the sake of sex.

It's a balance.

[Gods_Mercenary]

There's a major difference between having sex in a commited relationship and having sex with random people you meet in bars, even to the family values crowd. According to my Catholic theology prof., the only requirement for marriage between a man and a woman is love and commitment, the church simply recognizes this bond in the wedding ceremony. Granted, he's theologically liberal, but according to somewhat liberal Catholic viewpoint, many of these premarital relations could have been legitimate.

[Fonceai]

The importance of sex is relative.

Some people don't care much.

Some people care for different reasons.

Not marrying someone because the sex is bad is your own business, objectively.

Subjectively, I think anyone can learn to have better sex... dumping them because of bad sex shows a lack of commitment to the relationship.

[Praxius]

Quote by: Fonceai ........Subjectively, I think anyone can learn to have better sex... dumping them because of bad sex shows a lack of commitment to the relationship.

What about if the partner in question, doesn't want to learn? Then who's the one showing lack of commitment? I see it as, you both have to meet on level and come to a compromise for each, but if one isn't willing to expand their sex life past missionary once a week, then their the one who is lacking.

Anyone can learn.... but some don't......

(Man... you gotta cover all your angles in this forum, lol) :eek:

[Fonceai]

You're right, in that case. The person who doesn't acknowledge the desire of the other to be more adventurous sexually is the one not being considerate.

Compromise.

[Chancellor]

Would someone please explain to me how 36,100 people constitutes 95 percent of Americans.