  Just because a person is monogamous and had a conservative number of partners doesn’t mean they’re immune to infections that are carried into the relationship by a partner. (Comstock)
|
In the animal kingdom, it used to be that this elusive creature roamed quietly in our midst.
But since a wildly popular expose documented this creature’s peculiar habits with riveting detail, sightings of the 20, 30 and 40-year-old virgin have been reported in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and Alberta.
According to a Sun Media-Leger Marketing poll that surveyed 1,524 Canadians across the country, the Prairie provinces and Alberta split sharply from the rest of Canada when respondents were asked how long a person should wait before having sex with a new partner.
How long should you wait?
While 10% of Canadians overall said sex is acceptable only when engaged or married, that number spikes to 17% in western and central Canada.
Meanwhile, Quebecers may be the least likely to wait until matrimony for the goods, but it’s those randy West Coasters in B.C. who are more liberal, giving it up on the first date at 7%.
And while studies have documented success stories of “one-night stands that never left,” Calgary dating coach Christine Hart says these aren’t the norm. “I think courting should be something exciting.
There’s something exciting about prolonging getting naked together … the more you’re into a person, the longer you should wait.”
As Hart advises her clients, 37% of Canadians agree the most acceptable wait-time before surrendering to temptation is within a month of dating a new partner.
Friends with benefits
In 2005, editors at the Canadian Oxford Dictionary acknowledged the currency of a sexual term used to describe “friends who have sex regularly with each other without being in a committed romantic relationship.”
Almost one in four Canadians admit to having a “friend with benefits.” But these numbers change drastically in Quebec, where more than half of respondents said they’ve kept a sex buddy.
“The friend with benefits has always existed. People have been having casual sex for the history of mankind,” said Guy Grenier, a clinical psychologist in London, Ont. “We’ve just come up with a phrase for it now. People are more open about it and frankly, that’s a good thing, more talk about sex.”
Canadians and STDs
Alex McKay balks at the poll question, his annoyance audible over the phone.
The spokesman for the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada is dismayed at asking Canadians if they’ve ever had sex with someone outside a committed relationship.
“A huge number of sexually transmitted infections occurs in committed relationships,” McKay says. “They can become infected by past relationships.”
Just because a person is monogamous and had a conservative number of partners doesn’t mean they’re immune to infections that are carried into the relationship by a partner, McKay points out.
Infections like human papillomavirus, for example, are asymptomatic.
According to the poll, almost 40% of Canadians admit to having unprotected sex outside a relationship.
