Generation Z

As the new kids on the block of adulthood, Gen Z is kind of a common enemy for everyone else. There are complaints about their supposedly short attention span, over-reliance on technology, lack of resilience and toughness, but also their sense of entitlement and tendency to be overly passionate or extreme in their political and social views. In a way, that isn’t all that different from past complaints voiced by older generations. What sets the current discussion apart, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, is the huge gap between Gen Z and previous generations in their attitudes toward gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior.

Since the arrival of the first Gen Z students on college campuses as early as 2012, I noticed that discussions on subjects such as sexual behavior or sexually transmitted infections gradually shifted away from the opinions and views of late millennials. To capture these changes, I initiated research projects that collected information on a range of subjects, from health behavior and habits to gender identity and sexual orientation to alcohol and drug use to sexual activity, sexual coercion, harassment, and assault.

Since 2016, more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students at a university in Florida have participated in the main survey, an anonymous online survey originally called ‘Why do students have sex?’. Overall, students submitted more than 12,000 comments, explanations, or narratives of what happened and their thoughts and emotions. Some submissions were short and straight to the point, while others were almost short stories. My objective is to describe and explain Gen Z behavior, including health and sexual behavior, using the students' voices.

Religion still impacts Gen Z's sexual behavior

Religion has been, and still is, one of the major forces of control over sexuality. The Judeo-Christian faiths practiced by many in the U.S. typically are against premarital sex, non-relationship sex (or casual sex), and cohabitation and emphasize remaining abstinent until marriage. Studies have found that religious behavior is a strong predictor of sexual behavior, with higher levels of devoutness correlated to a later age of first sexual experiences, fewer lifetime sex partners, and less engagement in casual sex.

Religious attitudes do not guarantee sexual abstinence before marriage in all cases. The percentage of religious Gen Z students in my survey who admitted to having engaged in sexual activity – oral, vaginal, or anal sex – already was 70% compared to 76% for their non-religious peers. The percentage of religious students who had engaged in sexual activity during the past 30 days was also slightly lower at 55% compared with 59% for non-religious students. The average number of sex partners over the last twelve months, however, was the same for both groups, with 2.5 for religious and 2.6 for non-religious respondents.
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The rise of bisexual Gen Z students

“I met my current boyfriend last year at a party, we’ve known each other and had a sexual relationship for about 7 months before officially dating. I met my girlfriend at a festival and we’ve been dating for about 3 months.” (bisexual female, 22, senior)

Let’s start by reiterating that the term ‘sexual orientation’ refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions to men, women, both genders or none. It is related to a person's sense of personal and social identity based on those attractions, behaviors expressing them, and membership in a community of others who share this attraction. Sexual identity is how individuals perceive their sexuality and how they label themselves.
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“Pulling out and hoping for the best” – Advice from female students on how to prevent pregnancies

As part of my survey “Why do students have sex?”, I asked female respondents whether they used birth control regularly. Respondents who selected ‘No’ were asked, “How do you prevent pregnancy?” as a follow-up question. More than 700 students provided information, with 60% using condoms, 10% some form of abstinence, 10% Plan B on its own or combined with other methods, and 20% variations of ‘pull-out’ methods. There were also some rather unusual answers and a few that sounded more like respondents trying to educate me about contraception.

For some reason, quite a few students who had not yet engaged in vaginal intercourse responded, and an unexpectedly high number of lesbian students commented even though they stressed that they were not engaging in intercourse and, thus, not at risk of becoming pregnant.
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Sometimes sex is better than exercise

“needed to relieve stresses from school and life. sex was an easy outlet. exercise wasn't doing it.” (female, 20, sophomore)

Sexual behavior varies significantly due to factors such as sexual orientation, age, cultural norms, religious beliefs, personal values, and societal expectations. The internet has drastically altered the landscape of sexual behavior over the last two decades. Moreover, the internet and digital technology have made it possible for people to engage in sexual behaviors like sexting.
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To wait or not to wait - that is the question. Is it nobler to wait or have sex on the first date?

“I dont wait. No one has time for that.” (millennial male, 20, junior)

Gen Z students may be less sexually active than millennial students, but they’re quicker off the mark. Only one-third of millennials responding to my survey engaged in sexual activity with a new partner within the first month, with 4% saying it happened on the first date or the first time they met someone, 12% waited a week or two, and 20% waited between two weeks and a month.
On the other hand, one-half of Gen Z students engaged in sex within the first month of meeting a new partner. Six percent were already active on the first date, 20% within a week or two, and 23% after two to four weeks. Millennial students were more likely to write that they generally didn’t have a set time frame and that their decision to become sexually active with someone depended on various factors (15% vs. 7% for Gen Zers).
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Are pansexual people promiscuous or polyamorous?

There seem to be several common misconceptions about people who are not heterosexual, including those who identify as pansexual. One of the biggest misconceptions is misunderstanding what it means to be pansexual. Pansexuality is often confused with bisexuality, but while bisexuality refers to attraction to both men and women, pansexuality is the attraction to people regardless of their gender. This may include people identifying as male, female, transgender, non-binary, and more. Because pansexual individuals don’t worry about the gender of the person they are attracted to, they are considered gender blind.

Omnisexual individuals, on the other hand, consider the gender of the person they are attracted to and may have a slight gender preference when it comes to attraction but not a specific gender requirement.
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Don’t think you have a gender identity? Think again

A freshman student participating in my survey ‘Why do students have sex?’ responded to the question ‘What is your gender identity?’ by writing, “I have no f****** gender identity. I AM a Male. That's what my body composition is, so it doesn't f****** matter what my "identity" is.”
While this student’s reaction certainly was influenced by and typical of the current backlash against the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S., not so long ago, many people would have expressed the same or a similar sentiment or wondered what gender identity was in the first place. A hundred years ago, the only use of the term ‘gender’ was in grammar, where it referred to grammatical categories that divide words into masculine, feminine, and neuter classes, mainly in languages such as German, French, Spanish, or Italian.
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