Sexual initiation and gender: A comparison of trends in twelve European countries

Data from surveys on sexual behaviour conducted in twelve European countries are used to study the evolution in age at first intercourse over the last fifty years. The age of women at sexual initiation fell markedly during this period. whereas a smaller change was observed for men: and age at firn intercourse stabilized everywhere in the 1980s. The AIDS epidemic developed in this context of relative stabilization and although it has produced no change in the calendar of sexual initiation, the conditions of first intercourse have been modified, with use of the condom increasing at the expense of oral contraception. In this ge neral context. two gender-based patterns of sexual behaviour can be clearly identified. In the countries of southern Europe, the behaviour of women has become more like that of men, though women still have first intercourse significantly later. In the Nordic countries, the ages of men and women at sexual initiation have been similar for several decades. There are numerous indicators, however. that in both northern and southern Europe women experience sexual initiation very differently from men.