Scotland takes relaxed attitude to sex

September 2011

Most people in Scotland now take a relaxed attitude towards when and with whom people have sex, according to new figures from Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) Scottish Social Attitudes survey published today.

  • Only 13% think that sex before marriage is always or mostly wrong, while as many as 69% think it is all right for a couple to live together without intending to get married.
  • Just 36% feel that people who want to have children ought to get married.
  • As many as 55% feel that contraception should be more easily available to teenagers, including those aged under 16.
  • A clear majority, 58%, feel that sex between two adults of the same sex is either 'rarely' or 'not wrong at all'.

 

Attitudes on sexual issues have also tended to become more relaxed.

  • Since 2000 there has been an 18 point drop (from 54% to 36%) in the proportion who feel that people who want to have children should get married
  • Over the same period there has been a 21 point increase (from 37% to 58%) in the proportion who state that same sex relationships are 'rarely' or 'not wrong at all'

 

Debates about sexual issues have sometimes appeared particularly contentious in Scotland. However, attitudes north of the border are just as relaxed as in England.

  • At 69% the proportion of people in Scotland who think it is all right for people to live together without intending to get married is exactly the same as in England.
  • While 58% of people in Scotland feel that same sex relations are rarely or never wrong, so also do 53% of people in England
  • The proportion (55%) who feel that contraception should be made more easily available to teenagers is only a little less than the 60% who feel the same way in England.

 

Rachel Ormston, Research Director at the Scottish Centre for Social Research said, "These findings demonstrate how much more relaxed Scots have become in their views of sex and relationships. They also show that Scotland is not England's more conservative cousin. When it comes to issues like sex before marriage, same sex relationships and cohabitation, views are remarkably similar north and south of the border."

Religious organizations have often played a prominent role in the debates about sexual issues in Scotland. And regular churchgoers, who constitute one in eight of all adults in Scotland, largely do not share the relaxed attitude adopted by the majority of Scots

  • As many as 49% of regular church goers feel that sex before marriage is always or mostly wrong
  • 69% believe that people who want to have children should get married
  • Only 26% say that same sex relationships are rarely or never wrong

 

-Ends-

You can:

Share this page

Of interest: