Japanese Survey Reveals Teen Attitudes Toward Sex and Sex Education

The Nippon Foundation conducted a recent survey on the theme of sex, targeting 1,000 boys and girls aged between 17 and 19. While girls were apparently more experienced, the survey revealed that they actually held more negative impressions of sex than boys.

Overall, 23.6% of the respondents had sexual experience. A breakdown by gender found a 5% gap with 26.2% of girls and 21.2% of boys. When asked about what age they had their first sexual experience, the most common age for girls was 17 (30.6%), while for boys, it was 18 (28.3%).

The image each gender held of sex greatly differed. Boys had more positive attitudes, with 66.7% saying they felt it was “enjoyable,” 40.8% saying “happy,” and 39.1% thought it “fun.” In contrast, girls showed that they had a less positive image with only 33.7% answering “enjoyable,” 25.4% saying “happy,” and 12.9% “fun.” Instead, they had more negative impressions than boys, being more likely to see it as “gross,” “unpleasant,” and “painful.”

Asked where they had learned about sex, the majority of boys, with 50.8%, said from “friends” and 49.0% from “adult websites,” while the most common response from girls, at 48.6%, was “school lessons.”

Asked about sex education lessons at school, more girls than boys said they had wanted to learn more about “gender equality,” “violence, such as date rape, and how to protect oneself,” and “making decisions on and refusing sex.”

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)