經濟衰退導致英國人性生活減少

Britain is losing its libido. That is the striking conclusion of an Observer survey – published in the new Sex Uncovered supplement – which reveals that the average British adult has sex only four times a month, less than once a week. Our previous survey, in 2008, recorded a figure of seven times a month.

For good measure, our investigation of what goes on in Britain's bedrooms indicates that a third of the nation does not have sex at all in a typical month, a rise in abstinence of eight percentage points since 2008. Only 1% say they have sex more than 30 times a month, an average of at least once a day.

After six years of recession, and four years of a Tory-led coalition, it would seem that when it comes to sex we have never had it so infrequently.

It is also clear that men suffered the greater blow to their sexual self-esteem as the recession took its grip. In 2008, more than half of the sexually active men who took part in our survey rated themselves as above average in terms of their prowess as lovers. This year, that figure had shrunk to a less than a third.

And there is further bad news for men. Fewer are happy with the size of their penis. An admittedly sizeable proportion – 79% – are still content with their organ's dimensions, against 86% six years ago. Intriguingly, 90% of those from higher social grades report satisfaction with their size, while Scottish men (88%) are also more likely to be happy with their penis.

As to the question of what people are doing instead of having sex, the survey shows that 53% of women (compared with 36% of men) read erotica, in particular novels such as Fifty Shades of Grey. By contrast, 76% of men (compared with 36% of women) watch pornography online. Other intriguing findings in the survey include the revelation that almost one in five Britons (19%) lost their virginity when they were under 16, the legal age of consent. However, the average age at which a person loses their virginity is 18, the survey found, while for those living in London and the south-east that age rises to 19. As to sex education, 19% said they believed children were given too much information at school, while 43% said too little was given. The remaining 40% said they thought pupils got just about the right amount of information.

In addition, 63% of those in the survey said they were satisfied with their sex lives, a decrease from 2008, when 76% said they were happy. It was also found that one in seven (14%) have had casual sex with someone they met on the internet, a behaviour that is most common among those aged between 25 and 34 (28%) and living in London (20%). The survey also found that, on average, people have had 10 sexual partners, a slight increase from 2008.

The survey also revealed a fairly liberal attitude to homosexuality among respondents. Six years ago, 55% of Britons supported the right of same-sex couples to marry. That proportion has now increased to 63%. And there has been an even larger increase in the proportion of those supporting the right of same-sex couples to adopt children. A minority (44%) backed the concept in 2008. Today that figure has increased to 61%

A total of 22% of male respondents – more than a fifth – said they had visited a prostitute. This represents another rise – by four percentage points – since 2008.

By contrast, the figure of 11% for those who have had a sexually transmitted disease represents a drop from 12% in 2008. This figure is mirrored by a continued decline in those reporting worries about contracting sexually transmitted diseases. In 2002, when the Observer published its first sex survey, 52% said they were either very or fairly worried about STDs. This figure fell sharply to 35% in 2008 and has fallen again, to 28% in 2014.

"This decline in concern could be attributed to younger generations growing up in the period after fears of an HIV epidemic abated," the survey notes.《觀察家報》調查得出一個驚人結論，該發現發表在《性愛》刊物中：英國人性慾正走下坡路。數據顯示英國成人平均每月做愛四次。但據2008年調查顯示數據爲七次。

研究發現在一個特定月份中，三分之一的伴侶不會進行性行爲。自2008年以來英國人禁慾比例上升八個百分點。只有1%的人稱他們每月做愛30次以上，也就是平均每天至少一次。

經歷了六年經濟衰退，四年保守黨聯合政府統治，英國人性生活次數從沒這麼少過。

顯而易見，經濟持續衰退導致男性在性尊嚴上遭受更大打擊。2008年，參加調查的半數性活躍男性認爲自己性能力高於平均水平。但今年，該數據降至三分之一。

對於男人而言還有更糟糕的事。越來越多男性不滿意自己的性器官尺寸。六年前對自己性器官滿意的比例是86%，然而今年降至79%。有趣的是，高層社會人士中90%對自己尺寸表示滿意，而88%的蘇格蘭男性表示滿意。

不做愛，那麼人們做什麼呢？調查顯示，53%的女性（36%男性）閱讀色情書籍，尤其是諸如《50道陰影》。相比之下，76%的男性（36%女性）觀看在線色情視頻。調查中有趣發現還有，幾乎五分之一的英國人（19%）還沒16歲就給出了自己的“第一次”，早於法定年齡。然而，英國初夜平均年齡是18，調查發現生活在倫敦和東南部地區的人們，失貞年齡上升到19。對於性教育的看法，19%的英國人認爲孩子們在學校裏獲得的性教育過多，43%表示太少，剩下的40%認爲孩子獲得的性教育適中。

此外，調查中63%的英國人表示滿意他們的性生活，而相較2008年的76%，這一數據呈下降趨勢。七分之一的英國人（14%）會與網友發生性關係，在倫敦生活（20%）年齡在25歲至34（28%）的青年人中最常見。調查還顯示英國人平均擁有10位性伴侶，這一數據相較2008年的稍高。

調查還顯示受訪者對同性戀的態度相對自由。六年前，55%的英國人支持同性婚姻。現在這一比例已上升至63%。支持同性夫妻領養孩子的比例上升得更大，2008年只有44%支持，今天這一數字已增加至61%。

22%的男性受訪表示他們有過一次嫖娼經歷。自2008以來，這個比例上升了四個百分點。

相反，攜帶性病人數從2008年的12%下降到11%。擔心感染性病的人數反應了數字下降趨勢。2002年，《觀察家報》公佈其首次性調查，52%的人表示他們非常或相當擔心性病。2008年這一數字驟降至35%，2014再次下降到28%。

調查顯示，“年輕一代恐艾心理下降應當是原因。”