Sharp decline in sexual activity during lockdown will soon be a big problem for the government

One of the least talked about aspects of this pandemic is the impact it has had on sexual activity. It would be remarkable, given the intrusive nature of the restrictions, if this part of our lives hadn’t been affected. A glimpse into this is provided by new research exploring what happened to young people aged between 18 and 32 following the first lockdown in May last year.

The researchers asked 565 young people about sexual activity including masturbation, intercourse and watching pornography prior to and during this lockdown period. They found all types of sexual activity declined during lockdown but it was intercourse with a partner that saw the greatest fall, with over a quarter reporting this change.

Underlying this overall decline in sex, there were notable gender differences. Men and LGBT+ individuals reported increasing sexual desire, whereas women reported the opposite. Desire was measured using an assessment that explores how much a person has thought about sex, both with another person and by themselves.

Desire is a fragile and malleable aspect of sex which unsurprisingly can be affected by stress or fatigue. We know that, during the pandemic, it was women who bore the burden of domestic work and were more likely to report feeling stressed, hardly the ingredients needed for arousal. This most likely explains the difference in sexual desire and activity reported by men and women in this research.

Although we don’t know how temporary these behaviours are, it would be surprising if the current easing of restrictions didn’t produce changes in sexual activity. In the same way there is pent-up demand to socialise and have fun, there will be a yearning for sex with or without someone else.

Despite our often prudish approach to talking about sex, it’s a normal human activity; we wouldn’t be here without it. Yet there has been little attention given to this part of our lives during the pandemic; it must be the only aspect that hasn’t been openly talked about. It may not seem it, but this is troubling. Ignoring sex, in particular safe sex, harms people of all persuasion.

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As we’ve witnessed with other non-urgent areas of health, sexual health clinics and services have seen a decline in activity, in part due to Covid restrictions and moving sexual health staff to work with patients who have Covid. This disruption will have had a significant impact on uptake of contraception and condoms, in addition to a lowering of the number of people seeking help when someone contracts a sexually transmitted disease.

This combination of pent-up demand and a disruption to sexual health could prove to be problematic. Government health ministers find it irresistible not to reorganise the services they are responsible for. Like his predecessors, Matt Hancock has demonstrated his desire to meddle by scrapping Public Health England and creating the National Institute for Public Health Protection. This new agency will be responsible for sexual health services. Although we don’t yet have details about what the priorities and strategy will be, we do know that the budget will be squeezed. These services were hardly in rude financial health before this next round of budget cuts.

You don’t need to be a prophet to see how, as restrictions ease, sexual activity will surge at the same time as sexual health services are in decline, creating ideal conditions for a rise in sexually transmitted diseases.

Throughout this pandemic young people have rightly felt ignored in the way they have been treated by the government over education and employment, even being blamed for spreading the virus. Get ready for the government to absolve its responsibility in protecting their sexual health, too.