They do not necessarily do more but accept more. Millennials and Generation Y are more tolerant of sexual practices than their elders, according to a survey.
The younger generations are more open than their elders. Whether on sex before marriage or between people of the same sex, the proportion of people who do not object to it is steadily increasing. This is the result of a 40-year survey carried out in the United States, the results of which appeared in Archives of Sexual Behavior.
58% accept sex before marriage
33,000 American adults participated in this survey between 1972 and 2012. Between the Grand Generation (early 1900s) and the Baby Boomers (1940-50), a real gap has opened up in the perception of sexual relations.
But overall, with each generation, a fundamental change in attitude takes place. The acceptance of intercourse before marriage illustrates this well. In the 1970s, 29% of Americans saw no problem in getting to know each other better before the wedding night… 40 years later, 58% thought the same thing.
Source : Archives of Sexual Behavior
More liberated but less active
The most recent generations are generally more liberated. Sex outside marriage is increasingly accepted. The Millennials (1980-90) are the most tolerant… but not necessarily the most active in this area! Indeed, they have fewer partners on average than baby boomers (8.26 against 11.68).
“Millennials accept premarital sex more than any generation, yet they have fewer sexual partners than Gen Xers. This fits their image of a tolerant, individualistic generation that makes its own decisions.” and accepts the choices of others”, analyzes Jean Twenge, main author of the study.
Individualism equals tolerance
In addition to relations outside marriage, relations between people of the same sex are more accepted. 44% of members of Generation Y (2000-10) are in favor of it compared to 13% of Millennials.
“These changes are mainly generational – suggesting that people develop their posture towards sex when they are young”, explains Jean Twenge. The culture is also no stranger to this phenomenon, she continues: “As individualism has progressed in the United States, attitudes towards sex and sexual behaviors have become more permissive and less governed by Standard.
More Americans believe that sexuality should not be restricted by social convention. (…) When the culture emphasizes more the needs of the individual and less on social rules, more relaxed attitudes towards sexuality are an almost inevitable result. »
Despite everything, there remains a taboo that seems universal: extra-marital sex, condemned by all generations.
