Are we the new prudes?

Shift to liberal beliefs on sex hits a ‘plateau’

THE decades-long shift towards liberal attitudes on sex and relationships may have stalled, a survey suggested yesterday.

It found that acceptance levels for sex outside marriage and same- sex relationships have dipped.

Researchers added that there was also ‘some way to go’ on views about transgender issues.

While more than four out of five people had no prejudice against gender transition, fewer than half said prejudice against transgender people was always wrong.

The British Social Attitudes survey said its findings may signal ‘a point of plateau’ in the rise of liberal views since the dawn of the permissive society in the 1960s.

Its report said that since monitoring began in 1983, thinking about sex and gender has been transformed. But the report added: ‘The liberalisation in attitudes appears to be slowing down, perhaps reflecting the divides between the attitudes of religious and non-religious people.’

The monitoring entails detailed interviews with nearly 4,000 people and is backed by Whitehall departments. In 2016, it found 75 per cent of people said it was not wrong to have sex before marriage, up from 42 per cent in 1983. But the level remained at 75 per cent in 2017 and dipped to 74 per cent last year.

In 1983, only 17 per cent said same- sex relations were not wrong, a level which had risen to 68 per cent by 2017.

But last year acceptance of same- sex relationships fell to 66 per cent.

The report said those with religious faith may be the core group blocking the swing to liberalism.

It identified a religious divide in attitudes to premarital sex, with 93 per cent of non-believers having no objection.

However, only 66 per cent of Christians and 35 per cent of followers of non-Christian faiths thought likewise.