A survey found that 25% of single people felt ‘out of practice’ after so many months of social distancing When they drilled down into these, they discovered patterns that would certainly have surprised and discomfited the health secretary (unless that health secretary was Matt Hancock, who has not been a model of sexual restraint). The researchers then divided the responses into four groups: those not in a relationship and not having sex those not in a relationship but having sex those in a relationship and living apart and those in a cohabiting relationship. Fair enough: it was the start of lockdown and no one was meant to be doing anything with anyone they didn’t live with. In 2020, the usual face-to-face fieldwork was interrupted by Covid, but the web-based study that replaced it found a precipitous drop in the number of sexually active people reporting a new sexual partner over the previous four weeks, down by half (from 8% to 4%). The National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) is a huge-sample longitudinal study that has taken place every 10 years since 1990. While it is difficult to separate the immediate pandemic effects from long-term trends, the one-night stand has been replaced by encounters that may still be casual, but aren’t total one-offs: the friendship with benefits, if you like, or the “situationship”.
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