Attitudes, desires and behaviours in relation to sexuality: Differences between male and female students of the University of Cyprus

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    Abstract

    A key question in relation to sexuality is whether men and women differ in three important of its aspects: attitudes, desires and behaviours. Are there differences, in other words, in relation to what is considered acceptable, what men and women desire and how they behave. This chapter presents and analyses the results of a survey conducted in Cyprus in relation to these issues. Two hundred and three anonymously completed questionnaires by students of the University of Cyprus were analysed. Results suggest that while many perceptions of both sexes are similar and more liberal compared to the past, there are significant differences in some attitudes, desires and behaviours. More specifically, premarital sex is accepted universally for men and almost universally for women, a significant number of young people feel that there is nothing wrong if a person chooses to have a large number of partners (even though an also significant number state that the “appropriate” number of partners is 5-6 for men and 2-3 for women), and a significant proportion (about a third of men and nearly half of women) believe that if a woman is not married and wants to have a child, that is fine. Regarding desires and behaviours, men have sexual fantasies more often; they want to have sex with more sexual partners; and visit websites of sexual nature and masturbate much more often, according to the answers given. More than half of the respondents stated that they always or almost always use contraception and a small proportion of individuals of both sexes (less than 5%) said that they had sex with individuals of the same gender.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationRevisiting Sexualities in the 21st Century
    EditorsConstantinos Phellas
    Place of PublicationUK: Newcastle upon Tyne
    PublisherCambridge Scholars
    Chapter7
    Pages96-111
    Number of pages16
    ISBN (Print)978-1443874366
    Publication statusPublished - 2015

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