A recent study found Britain to have more casual sex than any other Western nation. The study was conducted by asking more than 14,000 people in 48 countries to fill out anonymous questionnaires. Participants were asked about their number of partners and one-night stands, how many people they expected to sleep with in the next five years, and what their attitude towards casual sex was. The answers were given a numerical value, and while Britain scored 11th overall, the country was the highest of all western nations (the US was 6th). 

Researchers “blame” Britain’s high casual sex ranking on a few factors, including the decline of “religious scruples about extramarital sex,” a highly sexed-up popular culture, and “the growth of equal pay and equal rights for women.” David Schmitt, a professor of psychology at Bradley University in Illinois, who oversaw the research, argues that British women may be becoming more promiscuous than men, citing the popularity of a TV show in Britain about a middle-class prostitute “who relished her numerous sexual encounters” to illustrate his point. Further, the study found that while “men tended to have the most partners, and to think most about acquiring new ones” in their twenties, “women’s promiscuity and lustful thoughts tended to peak in their thirties.” Go, cougars. [The Sunday Times]