45% of male university students think the female reproductive system has a "nubis" they could label.
It doesn't exist.
Sophia Smith Galer x Savanta
Revealing the scale of poor sex education and support amongst 18-25 year olds in the UK
We surveyed 1,600 university students aged 18-25 across the UK. Here's what they told us.
of university students feel their uni hasn't helped fill in the gaps left by their school's sex education
of university students did not have regular conversations about sex with their parents growing up
What did they tell us about first time sex?
38% of female students and 41% of male students felt pressurised into their first experience of penetrative sex.
Nearly half of male students said their first partnered experience happened later than they wanted to (45%) compared to just over a third of female students (34%).
41% of male students and 37% of female students felt pressurised to maintain their 'virginity'.
Students were far more likely to say their first sexual experience happened later than they wanted than those who said it happened too early or at about the right time.
Of the 491 respondents who told us that their first sexual experience happened later than they wanted, 59% said that this was primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
And hateful language/behaviour?
A much lower proportion of female students knew how to report sexual harassment online (52%) than male ones did (70%) – despite being more likely to be victim to it.
33% of female students think their university isn’t doing enough to tackle misogyny on campus - whereas 26% of male students think universities are doing too much to tackle it!
And we asked if students could confidently label the nubis on a diagram of the female reproductive system - a body part we entirely made up. 45% of male students, and 31% of female students, claimed they would be able to identify it.
"These figures paint a clear picture of the shocking gaps in children and young people’s knowledge about sex, relationships and their own bodies."
Sarah Champion, MP for Rotherham
"This generation has been failed even more than most because of the pandemic-related disruption to their sex education. Smith Galer's book starkly sets out the damage to young people's sexual wellbeing and mental health."
Professor Kirstin Mitchell, Glasgow University
Savanta interviewed 1,600 UK university students aged 18-25 online on 11-22 January 2023. Data was weighted to be representative of all UK university students by gender, course year and institution type. Savanta is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.