CARNAL NATION

A study of undergraduate students at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) reveals that so-called nerds have varied amd fulfilling sex lives. According to the school’s paper, The Tech, 54 percent of students have engaged in vaginal sex and 15 percent have had anal sex. The number of students who classify themselves as virgins registers at 42 percent with freshmen reporting higher rates of 64 percent. The figure for first-year students is in line with national averages, but older students report having less sex than the national average.

In total, 63 percent of students report having engaged in oral sex and though 84 percent believe that vaginal sex “counted” as real sex, only 51 percent classify oral sex as “counting”. Even 2.5 percent of those who have engaged in anal sex believe that they are still virgins. These findings reflect the reality that the definition of sex varies from person to person and virginity is a fluid term.

Among students, those in the Chemistry program were most likely to report being virgins (48 percent) and those enrolled in Political Science reported the lowest virginity rates (10 percent). 23 percent of men and 39 percent of women who considered themselves virgins explained that they abstained from sex by choice. Students also reported remaining virgins because “an opportunity has not presented itself.”

Reports of unprotected vaginal and anal sex were strikingly high at 63 percent though only 1.5 percent reported having a sexually transmitted infection (STI). 96 percent of students who engaged in oral sex also did so without protection. The discrepancy between high rates of unprotected sex and low rates of infection may be explained by the fact that many students had not been tested and common STIs are often asymptomatic.

Among women who had sex, 28 percent had used emergency contraception and 60 percent of male and female participants admitted to having sex while intoxicated. Despite the risky sexual practices of MIT students and the lower rates of sexual activity, those who are having sex say it is quite fulfilling. A total of 66 percent of both men and women rated the quality of sex as “high” or “very high” and only 4 percent report the quality of sex as “low” or “very low”. Lack of time was cited as the biggest impediment to sexual satisfaction, but 29 percent of men and 28 percent of women also complained about a lack of suitable partners.

Request for participation was sent to all undergraduate students via email and in total 1729 people (40 percent) responded offering a fairly large snapshot of self-reported sex on campus.