The Case Against the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century

by Louise Perry

The standard questionnaire used by researchers to assess sociosexuality asks respondents the following questions:3 With how many different partners have you had sex within the past 12 months? With how many different partners have you had sexual intercourse on one and only one occasion? With how many different partners have you had sexual intercourse without having an interest in a long-term committed relationship with this person? Do you agree that sex without love is OK? Can you imagine being comfortable and enjoying ‘casual’ sex with different partners? Do you only want to have sex with a person when you are sure that you will have a long-term, serious relationship? How often do you have fantasies about having sex with someone you are not in a committed romantic relationship with? How often do you experience sexual arousal when you are in contact with someone you are not in a committed romantic relationship with? In everyday life, how often do you have spontaneous fantasies about having sex with someone you have just met? Worldwide, there is a significant difference in average sociosexuality between the sexes, with men generally much keener to sow their wild oats than women are. And there is a compelling evolutionary explanation for this difference.4 As the biologist Anne Campbell writes: Biologically speaking, men’s investment is completed at conception and they are free to move on to pastures new. But women, unlike men, are quality not quantity specialists. Their inves...