Results of survey reveal sexual history of student body

| Staff Reporter

The results for Student Life’s 2016 Sex Survey revealed that while over 30 percent of Washington University students are virgins, 9 percent would have sex with presidential candidate Marco Rubio.

The survey, which collected responses from over 1,400 students, focused on topics such as relationships, sexual history, sexual behaviors and sexual assault.

Of all respondents, 43.4 percent of students reported that they are currently in a relationship. Of that cohort, around 8 percent defined that as consistently hooking up with the same person.

Freshman Allison Camm said she was surprised by how high the percentage of students who were in relationships was.

The majority (52 percent) of respondents who have had sex reported that they lost their virginity while 17 or 18 years old. Forty-five percent of students who have had sex lost their virginity in college, and 64 percent lost their virginity to someone they were in a relationship with.

Nearly a third of students—32.3 percent—surveyed have never had sex: a figure that remained about constant from the 2015 survey.

When asked “What do you consider sex?” over 99 percent of students agreed that vaginal penetration counted. Around three-fourths of participants noted that anal penetration was sex, and 36.2 percent of participants said that oral sex counted as sex.

Thirty percent of respondents had only had one sexual partner, and around 30 percent of students reported having 2-3 sexual partners. Less than 10 percent of survey participants report having had more than 10 sexual partners.

Of the 1,285 students who answered questions regarding sexual assault, approximately 7 percent of students reported that they had been sexually assaulted by a student at the University and another 9.1 percent responded that they had been sexually assaulted by someone who is not a student at Washington University.

Freshman Juliana Berlin feels that the number of students who have been sexually assaulted at the University is unacceptable.

“I think that number [of students who have been sexually assaulted by other students] is too high, and as a student body we should do something to lower than number because no sexual assault is ever warranted,” Berlin said.

In response to the question “Have you ever been pressured to engage in sexual acts you weren’t comfortable engaging in?”, 36 percent of those who answered questions regarding sexual assault said that they had, and 20 percent reported that one or more party was intoxicated. Sixteen percent reported that neither party was intoxicated.

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