From 2020... Less Sex, but More Sexual Diversity: Changes in Sexual Behavior during the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic

From 2020... Less Sex, but More Sexual Diversity: Changes in Sexual Behavior during the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. Justin J. Lehmiller, Justin R. Garcia, Amanda N. Gesselman & Kristen P. Mark. Leisure Sciences Volume 43, 2021 - Issue 1-2, Pages 295-304. Jun 26 2020. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2020.1774016

Abstract: Recreational sex is a popular form of leisure that has been redefined by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. “Social distancing” rules have imposed limits on sex for leisure while also creating new opportunities. We discuss results from an online survey of 1,559 adults who were asked about the pandemic’s impact on their intimate lives. While nearly half of the sample reported a decline in their sex life, one in five participants reported expanding their sexual repertoire by incorporating new activities. Common additions included sexting, trying new sexual positions, and sharing sexual fantasies. Being younger, living alone, and feeling stressed and lonely were linked to trying new things. Participants making new additions were three times more likely to report improvements in their sex life. Even in the face of drastic changes to daily life, many adults are adapting their sexual lives in creative ways.

Keywords: coronavirusCOVID-19sexual behaviorsexual noveltysocial distancing

Implications

The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting people’s sexual lives. This is evidenced in our initial empirical multinational data on the impact of lockdowns and physical distancing restrictions on people’s intimate lives. These findings are consistent with a smaller simultaneous study demonstrating a decrease in sexual frequency among a sample of young adults in China (Li et al., 2020), but they differ from a report of married people in Southeast Asia who reported unspecified changes in their sexual life but not decreases in sexual frequency (Arafat et al., 2020). Although our sample is not representative and caution is warranted in generalizing broadly, these findings nonetheless make an important and novel contribution to the literature and to our collective understanding of the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing on sociality, leisure, and sex.

There are several important implications of this work. While a majority of our participants reported no new additions to their sex lives, a substantial minority did. This finding adds much-needed complexity and nuance to the popular media narrative surrounding sex during this unusual time. It is clear that many people’s sex lives are undergoing a revolution of sorts, in which they are expanding their sexual repertoires; however, this does not appear to be as widespread and as laser-focused on SexTech as the media suggest. In fact, the single most common new addition did not require any technology at all: trying a new sexual position. This suggests that the changes going on in people’s intimate lives are broader in scope than assumed.

We also found that more participants said their sex lives declined rather than improved—and while incorporating new activities into one’s sex life was linked to improvements, new additions did not eliminate declines. Generally, only partnered activities were linked to improvements, with few technology-based activities showing any association. The new additions most strongly correlated with sex life improvement were trying new positions, acting on fantasies, engaging in BDSM, and giving massages. By contrast, the most common technology-based additions (sexting, sending nudes) were unrelated to sexual improvements. This suggests that while incorporating more technology into one’s sex life was common, it did not appear to have been as gratifying as in-person activities.

Consequently, we caution against premature claims that the COVID-19 pandemic will necessarily usher in widespread SexTech use, recreationally and otherwise. It is possible that recent uptake of SexTech is a temporary coping strategy and that once the pandemic subsides, technology usage may decrease in favor of in-person, partnered interactions.

By understanding factors associated with sexual improvements during this unprecedented time, we are also able to identify factors that might help people better navigate their intimate lives and safely pursue leisure activities during future emergency situations. For example, encouraging more novel sexual pursuits with a partner may be a helpful and therapeutic strategy for persons in relationships, particularly those feeling stressed or lonely. Likewise, the fact that SexTech was largely unrelated to sexual improvements points to important areas for future research and education. Are there ways of making these interactions more satisfying? Can SexTech education make usage more fulfilling?

The widespread social restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have significantly disrupted sexual routines and the overall quality of people’s sex lives. However, even in the face of these drastic changes, it is apparent that many adults are finding creative ways to adapt their sexual lives, including in the pursuit of sex for leisure.