Some first dates are so good, they have to end in sex. The flirting, the tension, the excitement of meeting someone new and connecting well, all perfectly culminating in ripping each other’s clothes off. Then again, some dates are so average, or just plain bad, that the possible way to potentially salvage it all is–you guessed it–ripping each other’s clothes off.
According to the second annual Singles in America study, funded by popular online dating website Match.com and conducted by experts in the field of sex and relationships, 55 percent of singles – 66 percent of men and 44 percent of women – have had sex on the first date.
That’s right, more than half of the 5,541 single U.S. adults 21 years of age or older have gotten down and dirty at the first meeting, whether it was good, bad or regrettable.
These numbers are up from those in last year’s Singles in America results, which reported that only about 6 percent of singles frequently have sex on the first date and 80 percent disapprove of finishing the date with sex.
That’s almost a 50 percent jump in just one year. Apparently, American singles just can’t keep it in their pants, as much as they intend to. But at one-third of the nation’s population, plenty of people are single and ready to mingle.
Interestingly, only about 4 percent of singles claim to wait until the first date before having sex with a new partner, according to USA Today who got a special sneak peek at other, yet-to-release results of the study.
So what happens to their pure intentions?
“I think that one of the reasons why people have sex on the first date is because they want to make a quick connection with somebody,” said Ivy Chen, sex and relationships lecturer at SF State. “By connection I also mean an emotional connection, and some people may feel that sex is a shortcut to intimacy.”
Out of 100 SF State students surveyed, 74 claimed to have never gone for that quick connection, while 26 said they had.
“My current girlfriend is the culprit and we chose to do it because I was horny at the time and she was down,” said an anonymous civil engineering student. “I think it’s totally acceptable to do.”
But Chen cautioned that sex on the first date might not be the right decision for everyone.
“I think that what people have to do is ask themselves what they want,” Chen said. “But for people who may feel that the sex is a shortcut to intimacy in hopes that it turns into a much longer-term relationship, they might be disappointed.”