Are TSRers representative sexually of UK population

Scroll to see replies

i dunno

there's the other thing - we act HONESTLY online - no one knows us so no one cares. in real life, about 10 people know im still a virgin, including my past 3 bfs. and outside of chuch, family and the christian union only 4 people know im strongly Catholic and i love my religion.

but on TSR EVERYONE knows this about me and most of my posts are on sex/relationships/religion. there's no need to hide it. so i think aklot of people are more honest online about being very prudish or very ho-ish thus a skrewed view of sex

Reply 21

Helenia

cambridgemuscle

True. But TSR seems more conservative than Cambridge. To talk about Cambridge- as we know- is a little futile anyway due to the variety of groups, who on the whole are pretty homogenous. You must've noticed, lots of virgin girls group together in CICCU or whatever, and there are some very..ahem..active girls' drinking socs. In fact, the loosest girls i've ever met are both at Cam and boaties no less :wink:

On the whole I'd say TSR is more sexually conservative than my scene at Cambridge (think Cindies regulars) who are in turn more conservative in the main that joe public.

TSR has more of both extremes than I've met at Cambridge. Overall they're probably similar, though obviously the TSR population is on average a bit younger.

Most of my friends are in relationships now, and when single, while we weren't averse to the odd random pull etc, never really went in for the one-night-stand thing. Our girls' drinking society isn't really that riotous either from what I've seen.

Reply 22

bret

shinytoy

2)we are academics - therefore more likely to know about safe sex than eg most 15 y/o single mothers wh o would not use TSR

I could find you a few academics who wouldn't know what a condom was.

Reply 23

Schmokie Dragon

Helenia

Does anyone study that hard?

I know I don't... :p:

Reply 24

glance

No, I wouldn't say that TSR is representative sexually of the UK population. Perhaps TSR is a little more conservative than the rest of the UK population - but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The rest of the UK population have 2.4 children, and land on Trafalgar Square in a game of Monopoly. It's a boring world out there, full of normalities. Perhaps here on TSR, some people like to be a little different and not have a blue 1900cc car parked in front of a £184,924 house.

Reply 25

john!!

cambridgemuscle

or are TSRers a bit prudish.

somethign makes me think this one.

Think: Internet forum.

Reply 26

SamTheMan

john!!

Think: Internet forum.

That affects the guys more than the girls. Lack of social aptitude which is present among members on an internet forum affects guys more.

As for it being that unrepresentative, not so much. There have been polls in the past where about half of the people here said they were virgins. Considering the age distribution on this forum, that's not that different from the rest of the population.

As I mentioned before, in the outside world, your view of what's normal is skewered by the few people boasting about sleeping around and the majority who don't have such an active sex life keeping quiet. At least the forum is an easier way for many of the users to tell people about their sexual habits without the fear of social embarassment. In your uni or high school social life, you're not going to see hundreds of people going on about how they're not having sex. It doesn't work that way.

Reply 27

Barny

SamTheMan

- That a huge percentage of guys in their first year of university are virgins?

I disagree with that, what do you class as a huge percentage though?

Reply 28

SamTheMan

imasillynarb

I disagree with that, what do you class as a huge percentage though?

Fair enough.

I'd say that there are probably enough for the guys who have lost their virginity to not be an overwhelming majority. Anything between 20 and 40%. Considering that about half of 16 and 17 year olds are still virgins, I don't think that's exaggerating much.

Reply 29

Barny

You think 20% of the people in the first year being virgins is a huge percentage?

Reply 30

technik

a lot of the users here are completely abnormal.

Reply 31

Apricot Fairy

cambridgemuscle

Recently we've had a lot of related threads on sexual partners and the acceptability thereof. I know I've been berated as a macho from all sides (with a considerable number of people agreeing nevertheless) for my views and actions on this topic.

Yet I must admit, my ideas have been shaped somewhat by this site. For example, I had never met many people who wished to save their virginity until marriage. I was also shocked at how low many people's sexual numbers were.

Do I hang around with a load of slags, or are TSRers a bit prudish.

I'm inclined to say you "hang around with a load of slags", actually. I have three main groups of friends at uni (halls, course and music), lots of friends at other universities and quite a few older friends who are mostly graduates. Based on this wide selection of people, aged between 18 and 25, and having read many of your posts, I can't say m(any) of them bear much resemblance to the people you talk about.

Reply 32

Apricot Fairy

imasillynarb

Its definitely not representative, don't you remember that poll where about 80+ people hadn't kissed someone at the age of 18? Don't think you'll find that too many places in the UK :smile:

How many 18 year olds do you know who would admit to all their mates that they'd never kissed anyone? Not many, I'd bet. However, they might be prepared to admit to it on an internet forum, where they are pretty anonymous and seeking comfort in the fact that they're not actually a freak, and that loads of other people their age haven't kissed anyone either.

There seems to be a stigma attached to people who post on internet forums, as though they're likely to be antisocial geeks who have problems relating to people in real life. However, I probably know about 15 people from TSR in real life, and they're all pretty normal.

It's easy to read a thread posted by an anonymous user and think, "Oh my god, some people on here are really weird!!!" but that user might be one of your best friends. People are rarely open about their problems and insecurities with the people in their lives, as they don't want to be judged or thought to be a bit loopy. I think many people wonder to themselves whether they're normal at times. You might think there's a large proportion of weirdos on TSR, but I'd be willing to bet that most people here are just normal people, with normal (but what they believe to be abnormal) fears and anxieties. TSR is an outlet for the things you feel unable to express to your contemporaries. If you embarrass yourself on TSR, you can just leave, or start another account, if it bothers you that much.

I've been accused (by Dazya, who is actually a genuine fruitcake, by the way) of wasting my life on TSR and being an internet addict. Simply by looking at my post count, you may believe that to be true, and that I have no life outside the internet. Sure, I waste a lot of time on here, but that really couldn't be further from the truth.

So the long and short of it is that yes, I think TSR is probably a lot more representative of normal people than you realise.

Reply 33

technik

Apricot Fairy

I've been accused (by Dazya, who is actually a genuine fruitcake, by the way) of wasting my life on TSR and being an internet addict. Simply by looking at my post count, you may believe that to be true, and that I have no life outside the internet. Sure, I waste a lot of time on here, but that really couldn't be further from the truth.

you definately post too much. you loser! :biggrin:

Reply 34

Angel Interceptor

shinytoy

3) if we stud y alot we might not have time for sex

People who study that hard probably have no lives at all, let alone sex lives.

Reply 35

Apricot Fairy

technik

you definately post too much. you loser! :biggrin:

So do you! Double loser! :p:

Reply 36

Leigh

imasillynarb

Haven't you said that before..?

*Thinks*

Quite possibly. Hopefully it was relevant each time so I repeated a similar statement in answer to a similar question for the less observant of us. (How did you even remember that?)