"A final surprising statistic revealed by the survey was a significant rise in the number of students who fantasize about "inflicting or receiving pain." In 1976, 3 percent of both males and females (uncombined) reported having this fantasy; in 2008, this percentage has jumped to 6 percent of males and 14 percent of females. While it is difficult to make any guesses as to why more female students have this fantasy, this overall rise in desiring "violent" sex is consistent with the eroticization of power at the societal level. "I'm not surprised to see a rise in how many students report this fantasy." Wade said. "We learn that power is sexy. How do you know that sex is hot? You know because somebody throws somebody on the bed, throws somebody up against a wall, rips off somebody's clothes, etc. Equality is just not sexy. So we've learned to associate dominance and submission with sex. In this sense, today is very different from the 1970s, which was in the heady days of second wave feminism-a far cry from today's raunch culture in which women revel in their objectification."
Bringing Sexy Way Back
A college newspaper stumbled upon a 30 year old campus sex survey and resubmitted the same questions to today's students. Apparently our generation is more open to dominance and submission play, but significantly less funky than our 70s counterparts.
Photo from the Oxy Weekly