HUD — named the best new hookup app by Mashable — and sex toy site Girls Get Off partnered to release the Pleasure Census, an anonymous survey of over 2,100 participants from 63 countries.
While not a nationally representative sample (68 percent of respondents are female), the survey says a lot about where daters are at today, especially in terms of desire. Namely, how big a role performance and body image play in young adults’ sex lives.
Critics like to call Gen Z a “sexless” generation due to various reports of declining sexual activity over the years, but what the Pleasure Census found is that 73 percent say concerns about their appearance make it harder to enjoy sex or pleasure. Forty-four percent of respondents overall said this, too, so while it’s not just a Gen Z issue, it is more pervasive among them.
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Credit: The Pleasure Census
Over half (54 percent) of Gen Z respondents have caught themselves “performing” — during solo pleasure. That number jumps up to 70 percent overall, and an additional 15 percent say they’re not sure if they do. This is a phenomenon known as spectatoring, or focusing on yourself from a third-party perspective rather than on your (or your partner’s) sensations.
Credit: The Pleasure Census
It doesn’t help that talking openly about sex is also a challenge for many of the respondents: 50 percent are only somewhat comfortable telling a partner what they want. For 38 percent, sex was rarely discussed growing up, and for 35 percent, it was framed negatively or not spoken about at all. For 16 percent, it was discussed openly — but awkwardly — and a mere 10 percent said it was talked about openly and positively.
Most people learned about sex from personal experience (60 percent), and 17 percent from online content. What about formal sex education? A measly one percent. (In the U.S., only 19 states mandate medically accurate information for any sex ed topic as of last year.)
Credit: The Pleasure Census
All this led the researchers to suggest that pleasure is self-taught, the orgasm gap is a conversation gap, and that honesty is the hardest act. Despite all the fraught feelings towards sex, 80 percent of participants want to have more of it. While this knowledge won’t solve all the sexual hangups, self-awareness is the first step.
