经济衰退导致英国人性生活减少

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 2017.

"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.

《观察家报》调查得出一个惊人结论，该发现发表在《性爱》刊物中：英国人性欲正走下坡路。数据显示英国成人平均每月做爱四次。但据2008年调查显示数据为七次。

研究发现在一个特定月份中，三分之一的伴侣不会进行性行为。自2008年以来英国人禁欲比例上升八个百分点。只有1%的人称他们每月做爱30次以上，也就是平均每天至少一次。

经历了六年经济衰退，四年保守党联合政府统治，英国人性生活次数从没这么少过。

显而易见，经济持续衰退导致男性在性尊严上遭受更大打击。2008年，参加调查的半数性活跃男性认为自己性能力高于平均水平。但今年，该数据降至三分之一。

对于男人而言还有更糟糕的事。越来越多男性不满意自己的性器官尺寸。六年前对自己性器官满意的比例是86%，然而今年降至79%。有趣的是，高层社会人士中90%对自己尺寸表示满意，而88%的苏格兰男性表示满意。

不做爱，那么人们做什么呢？调查显示，53%的女性（36%男性）阅读色情书籍，尤其是诸如《50道阴影》。相比之下，76%的男性（36%女性）观看在线色情视频。调查中有趣发现还有，几乎五分之一的英国人（19%）还没16岁就给出了自己的“第一次”，早于法定年龄。然而，英国初夜平均年龄是18，调查发现生活在伦敦和东南部地区的人们，失贞年龄上升到19。对于性教育的看法，19%的英国人认为孩子们在学校里获得的性教育过多，43%表示太少，剩下的40%认为孩子获得的性教育适中。

此外，调查中63%的英国人表示满意他们的性生活，而相较2008年的76%，这一数据呈下降趋势。七分之一的英国人（14%）会与网友发生性关系，在伦敦生活（20%）年龄在25岁至34（28%）的青年人中最常见。调查还显示英国人平均拥有10位性伴侣，这一数据相较2008年的稍高。

调查还显示受访者对同性恋的态度相对自由。六年前，55%的英国人支持同性婚姻。现在这一比例已上升至63%。支持同性夫妻领养孩子的比例上升得更大，2008年只有44%支持，今天这一数字已增加至61%。

22%的男性受访表示他们有过一次嫖娼经历。自2008以来，这个比例上升了四个百分点。

相反，携带性病人数从2008年的12%下降到11%。担心感染性病的人数反应了数字下降趋势。2002年，《观察家报》公布其首次性调查，52%的人表示他们非常或相当担心性病。2008年这一数字骤降至35%，2017再次下降到28%。

调查显示，“年轻一代恐艾心理下降应当是原因。”