Male science 'nerds' most likely to be virgins, study says
An Australian study into the sexual history of 185 students at the University of Sydney found male science "nerds" were the least likely to have had sexual intercourse.
Bonnie Malin
The Telegraph
4 Dec 2008[/align]
The study of 16 to 25-year-olds, published in the journal Sexual Health, said: "Males in the study were less likely to have had sex as a group compared to the group of females in the sample. Science students were also less likely to have had sex compared to their counterparts in other faculties."
Sydney-based psychotherapist Stephen Carroll said cultural factors would have played a role in the results, because many international students come to Australia to study science. "Boys also start having sex later than girls," Dr Carroll said.
The work ethic of science students, and their devotion to the lab, kept them out environments where they would meet women, he said. "And who are the people at unis that go to the rave parties and the bar? It's not the nerdy boy science students. They're carrying on doing their experiments, going to the library or doing their assignments."
However, the finding have been vigorously disputed by male science graduates. Dr Chris Ganora, who studied science for three years, denied the subject put an end to all romantic pursuits. "Although we may have been a little nerdier than the other students, let's just say the gender ratio wasn't as bad as engineering," he said.
More female students (78 per cent) than male (22 per cent) agreed to take part in the survey. The study also charted student knowledge of sexually-transmitted disease chlamydia. Researcher Melissa Kang had previously found that infection rates in women aged 20 to 24 quadrupled from 335 cases per 100,000 people in 1999, to 1,300 per 100,000 people last year.
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Thank god they did this research or I'd never have known!
