A Surprising Look At Millennials’ Sexual Attitudes

Millennials are often portrayed in the popular media as an extremely liberal bunch when it comes to sex. The impression given is that, among other things, millennials are totally cool with homosexuality, they love their casual sex, and they’re shunning the notion of marriage. However, this doesn’t quite match up with the data. Believe it or not, millennials’ sexual attitudes may be a little more conservative on average than you’ve been led to think.

When it comes to homosexuality, casual sex, and other sexual behaviors, it turns out that most millennials do not actually categorize them as morally acceptable–the majority adopt either a situationalist perspective (i.e., they’re OK sometimes, but not always) or categorize them as morally wrong. In addition, most millennials continue to hold a positive view of marriage.

In some ways, these findings aren’t particularly surprising when you consider that most millennials hold religious affiliations and were exposed to fairly conservative sex education stressing abstinence instruction. Of course, millennials are certainly more sexually liberal than previous generations in many ways (there’s no disputing that!)–it’s just that they do not seem to be quite as sexually liberal as they are so often made out to be in the media. For a look at the data, check out the infographic below.

For other infographics about sex, click here.

Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology ? Click here for previous articles or follow the blog on Facebook (facebook.com/psychologyofsex), Twitter (@JustinLehmiller), or Reddit (reddit.com/r/psychologyofsex) to receive updates.

Image Source: 123RF