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Who normally initiates sex in your relationship? Obviously many men and women enjoy having sex, but who usually makes the first move and gets the ball rolling?
In many traditional societies that’s considered the man’s role. In traditional black African cultures, for example, it is frequently considered taboo for women to initiate sex - something that’s considered to be sluttish behaviour.
The results of Health 24’s Great South African Sex Survey of 2010 seem to confirm this: only 49% of all women who took part in the survey say they "regularly" initiate sex. That’s compared to 72% of all the men.
But there are some indications that attitudes and behaviours are changing. Among black African women, there is a clear age-related trend when it comes to initiating sex. Younger black women tend to regularly initiate sex more frequently than their older sisters and mothers. Fully 57% of black women between the ages of 25 and 29 say that they regularly initiate sex, while among those over the age of 50, only 33% do.
Surely this is a clear indication that the younger generation of black South African women is becoming more open-minded and self-assured when it comes to starting proceedings in the bedroom.
It’s interesting to note that among white women the trend, although somewhat less pronounced, is reversed. In general, white women regularly initiate sex more frequently as they get older. About 54% of all white women over the age of 50 do so, whereas for 20 to 24 year olds the figure is only 49%.
These statistics probably reflect the fact that a growing self-assuredness that tends to come with age for most women also brings a raised level of sexual confidence that allows them to initiate sex more regularly.
(Andrew Luyt, Health24, February 2010)
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