Two out of Three Americans Disapprove of First Date Sex

Do you approve of sex on a first date, or would you avoid it at all costs? People typically fall into very distinctive camps in this heated debate – yes or never. Maybe you use Tinder every night, swiping right until you get lucky, or perhaps you completely reject the idea of first date sex because you want to maintain a certain level of interest from the object of your affection by playing coy.

If you’d rather wait to have sex, you’re in agreement with a majority of Americans. According to a recent study by website Dating Advice, 66% of Americans do not approve of having sex on the first date – two out of every three people.

This seems counter-intuitive to our culture. After all, dating apps like Tinder – an efficient and speedy app that connects people quickly, often for hooking up – are becoming the new norm. We are inundated with sexy images in the media, and our views as a culture have become increasingly liberal. There isn’t the stigma that used to be associated with premarital sex. So why does this attitude towards first date sex remain?

According to Gary Lewandowski Jr., the chair of psychology at Monmouth University and co-creator of ScienceofRelationships.com, most Americans say they don't approve of first date sex but, "it may not indicate how much first date sex [they] are having themselves." He adds that the views respondents express "reflect conformity to expectations that society has, rather than a reflection of how they actually feel." In other words, they think they are supposed to disapprove of it, so they do.

He may be right, but attitudes vary among the sexes. There was a huge distinction between men and women in their responses, with 82% of women agreeing that they wouldn’t have first date sex while only 48% of men said they wouldn’t.

"Women are the harshest judges of other women's behavior," said Robin Milhausen, an associate professor of human sexuality at the University of Guelph. "Many women wouldn't think it was OK for a woman to have sex on the first date, thinking this would be 'slutty behavior'. Women also are aware of the double-standard, recognizing they could be judged negatively if they had sex on the first date, making first date sex an unwise behavior for them." Men however, have more supportive attitudes about casual sex, so they are more likely to say they would have it.

1,080 people over the course of three weeks were surveyed for the study.