More Women Having Sex With Women, Government Finds
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Growing numbers of American women have had female sex partners, researchers said yesterday in the largest and most detailed government survey to plumb sexual practices in American households.
About 11% of women aged 15 to 44 reported “ever” having sex with a female, and 4.4% did so within the previous 12 months, said the poll of about 12,500 Americans, done in 2002 and released today. A comparable survey, of women aged 18 to 59 in 1992, found 4.1% had same-sex partners.
The 56-page survey presents national estimates of other sexual behavior as well, including the number of teens giving or receiving oral sex and how many sex partners men and women have had in their lifetimes. It also explores related health issues such as the prevalence of AIDS testing and the extent to which health insurance covers people of given sexual preferences.
“The biggest surprise to me was the answers to questions about female-female sex,” the lead author, William Mosher, said. “The previous surveys had not shown as much.”
The survey didn’t give reasons for the change. Mr. Mosher, a demographer at the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Md., said some women may think sex with other females is safer in the era of AIDS. Mr. Mosher said he has studied American sexual patterns for 27 years.
Another unexpected finding, Mr. Mosher said, was that 86% of heterosexual women aged 40 to 44 reported having given oral sex to a man. The 1992 survey put this number at 73%. Mr. Mosher said it wasn’t clear if contradictions in the polling could have accounted for the difference.
The percent of teenagers engaging in heterosexual oral sex rose in many categories, including both males and females aged 15 to 19, the study showed. Slightly more than half of American teens that age said they had heterosexual oral sex, with the number rising to almost 80% at ages 18 to 24.
About 12% of males and 10% of females aged 15 to 19 had heterosexual oral sex while avoiding vaginal intercourse, the study said. Of male teens who said vaginal intercourse was against their religion or morals, 16% had engaged in oral sex.
The survey also looked into health issues related to sex.
It found, for instance, that one-fifth of American males overall lacked health insurance coverage. This included 27% of homosexuals, compared with 19% of heterosexuals.
