Dates more likely to end in sex if women make the first move, scientists find

Dates are more likely to end in sex if the woman makes the first move, scientists have found.

But only one in ten hook-ups is begun by the woman, the researchers discovered.

And the traditional roles, whereby the man asks the woman out, pays for dinner and then initiates any sexual encounter is only true in just over a third of cases.

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Much has changed since the modern idea of dating first appeared in the 1920s, with so-called casual hook-ups becoming increasingly popular.

But now researchers in the United States have found what university students are saying when it comes to having sex on a date and what they are doing in practice does not match up.

Author Sam Kendrick, a doctoral student at the University in Kansas said: “Hook-up culture is a culture where casual sex encounters function as part of the courtship process. In hook-up culture, you don’t have to go on a date or enter a relationship to have sex.

"The order has essentially flipped around,”

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Data from a survey which asked more than 20,000 university students to describe their most recent date with someone who they were not in an exclusive relationship with, was analysed by the researchers.

Participants were asked to divulge information about their date, like who initiated it in the first place, and who had picked up the tab.

They were also asked who made the first move and what kind of sexual activity went on between them.

The vast majority of dates - 89.1% - were initiated by men, even though the majority of respondents did not see any problem with women taking the first step.

Dates were less likely to finish with sex if men were the ones to suggest going out, the researchers found.

Of dates initiated by women, 63 per cent finished in the bedroom, compared to 56 per cent of those by men.

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Co-author Dr Nancy Jo Kepple said: “Among those dates following a male-initiated script, men paid and initiated most of the sexual activity on approximately 36 per cent of dates.

“In other words, more than 60 per cent of dates violate the traditional script - defined as men asking, paying and initiating sexual activity - some way.”

This suggests young peoples' view of dating, courtship and hook-up culture is deviating from the so-called traditional script.

Ms Kendrick said: “We’re only scratching the surface of understanding courtship, dating and sexual behaviours.

"We haven’t been looking closely enough at sex in dating scripts.

"It’s not all what people say it is.

"Scholarship on hook-up culture has confirmed that dating is not completely out the window, and I think there are more questions to be asked about how sex is happening in dating.”

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Another survey is being carried out with a second wave of university students which the researchers hope will help to answer more questions.

Much more research could be done on sex and dating in LGBTQ relationships, as the study only looked at heterosexual dates.

The findings were published in The Journal of Sexuality & Culture.