Britons broaden views on sex, says survey

Associated Press

LONDON — Britons have more sexual partners, more homosexual encounters and indulge in more two-timing than they did a decade ago, a survey of British sexual habits has found.

The survey, which gives the clearest picture to date of the sex lives of Britons, is published this week in The Lancet medical journal.

"These findings are in line with demographic changes which show that people are getting married later and have more partners before they settle into long-term relationships," said one of the investigators, Anne Johnson, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London. "Changes between the surveys were greatest in parts of the country outside London and among women."

Although some of the changes can be attributed to a greater willingness to acknowledge socially sensitive sexual practices, the researchers worded several questions so that any inconsistencies in responses would stand out. They said they were confident the findings presented a truthful picture.

On average, people in Britain have sex as often as they did a decade ago — once a week, the survey said.

But it revealed that although the frequency has remained the same, the incidence of certain behaviors has changed.

The average number of sexual partners over a lifetime rose from four to seven for women and from nine to 13 for men.

The rate of lesbian relationships among London women more than doubled, from 3 percent in 1990 to 7 percent in 2000, it said.

Ten percent of men living in the capital reported having a homosexual relationship, up from 9 percent a decade earlier.

Nationwide, the proportion of women reporting homosexual encounters went from 2 percent in 1990 to 5 percent in 2000, while for men it rose from 4 percent to 6 percent.

Half of all people with a new partner in the last year said they had sex within one month of meeting.

One in seven men and one in 11 women reported having overlapping sexual relationships in the last year. That compares with one in nine men and one in 20 women in 1990.

Nine percent of London men said they had paid for sex in the last five years, compared with 6 percent in 1990.