By Hilary Hagerman
Hey froshies, think you’re going to break in your mattress this year? If you’re planning on getting any, a new study may disappoint you.
In his book Sex and Youth, Robert Altemeyer, a retired University of Manitoba psychology professor who surveyed his first-year students for over 20 years, found that first-years aren’t as oversexed as you might think.
Altemeyer found that one quarter of the women and nearly half of the men surveyed said they were still virgins. It also revealed that many aren’t jumping into one-night stands — 23 per cent of guys and 49 per cent of girls waited until they were in serious relationships.
Michael Allen, a former RA and Floor President at the ILLC, isn’t surprised. Although some students suffer from “freedom overload” during frosh week, most calm down soon after. “During frosh week, some students take the chance to test their limits when it comes to everything, including sex, but once school starts they get into their homework or start to get a little homesick,” he said.
“It’s kind of a general opinion that first-years in rez are having sex, and I think there is a pressure to do it,” added Vassil Sabeb, 20, a first-year sociology student. “But really, a lot of people already have boyfriends or girlfriends, and it’s definitely not as crazy as some people make it out to be.”
But if the study has you worried you’ll be left unsatisfied, Dr. Doreen Fumia, a Ryerson sociology prof who teaches Sexuality, Identity and Society, says that the results can’t be taken too seriously. “There are just as many studies that report the exact opposite,” she said. “From what I’ve seen, the study is done in a limited area, with mostly heterosexual relationships and there are nearly twice as many females as males. That cuts a whole slice out of the data.”
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