Real Life | Relationships

A Look At Millennial Love, Canadian-Style: And The Sex Survey Says…


Winter Love Couple - Durex Sex Survey

An in-depth look at the sexual activities, beliefs and attitudes of young Canadians

A recently released study commissioned by Durex Canada is giving us some insight into what is going on in the bedrooms and minds of modern Canadians. Sit back with a tea, or a glass of wine, and discover what your fellow millennial Canadians have been sharing, and see how you might compare.

What’s going on…

Amid widely-reported drops in sexual activity among millennials compared to their parents’ generation, a large majority of young Canadians are still finding the time to get playful beneath the sheets. Among Canadians aged 18-24, 70% reported being sexually active. Overall, 35% of young Canadian were single, 61% of them were in a monogamous relationship. (Hmm, leaving 4% in a polygamous relationship?)  And while there’s room for improvement, 60% felt comfortable expressing their sexual identity, whatever it may be.

When it comes to the act itself, around a third of millennials use “lube”,  a quarter use sex toys, and 36% don’t use anything to enhance the experience.

Where are millennials getting their advice on sex? Many turn to friends (59%) and parents (15%) and, not surprisingly, online sources (36%), thought that would have been higher actually.  Perhaps more worrying is 36% who claim they get sex advice from watching online porn. O_o

Summer Beach Lovers

Young Canadians and safe sex

A sizable percentage of Canadians 18-24 are having “frequent” random sex, which is actually a third higher than in the US. As for protection, 12% are not using any protection of any kind. More worrying, for those in non-monogamous relationships the unprotected number rises to 20%. Once they start having sex with a partner regularly, consistent condom use drops to only 40%.

A good deal of these less than ideal numbers come from the fact that 30% do not feel comfortable speaking about sexual diseases with their partner or, even more so, with a potential partner. Many young people are simply embarrassed to explicitly talk about sex generally (20%) with ongoing or would-be partners, and another group (20%) admitted they “do not want to freak them out and scare them.”  Despite 95% of young millennials admitting it’s important to discuss STDs/STIs with partners, only 35% will always do so. And consider this, when told about an STD, 73% new partners still went ahead with the hookup.

Condom use clearly improves chances of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, with 83% of regular condom-users reporting never having had any STDs.  Testing is important too, although 61% did not get tested before their last hookup. And overall about a third of people have never been tested for STDs/STIs, and another third have not been tested within a year.

HIV/AIDS is still a problem

While HIV/AIDS is on the decline in terms of new infections and deaths, it’s still a serious problem, as  the survey audience recognizes (71%). However, young people seem less informed about the facts surrounding the disease than they did a decade ago. 50% believe the rate of HIV contraction has gone up in the last ten years (it hasn’t), and 33% believe it’s a “death sentence” if contracted (it definitely isn’t).

We recently featured a campaign that was launched leading into World Aids Day by the world’s leading condom-maker, Durex, who partnered with the charity (RED) to support an HIV/AIDS programme in Africa and stimulate the conversation surrounding the disease among young people.  Read more about the campaign, the product (DUREX)RED condoms, and the hashtags around the campaign: and 

Durex (RED) Condoms - Have Sex Save Lives

This post is supported by Durex Canada, as part of their efforts to promote dialogue and awareness around safe sex.


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