Understanding and Practice of Safer Sex

Understanding and Practice of Safer Sex

The survey explored both the motivations and behaviour of Canadians with respect to safer sex. After being asked why they believe someone would practice safer sex (findings presented in Chapter Two), respondents were told that safer sex refers to sexual practices that lower the risk of catching or giving a sexually transmitted infection (including HIV/AIDS), which would include the use of a condom or abstinence from sexual intercourse. They were then asked questions about whether and how often they practiced safer sex over the previous year and their motivations for their behaviour.

Based on the above definition, close to half of Canadians (48 per cent) reported that they never engaged in safer sex during the previous twelve months, while just over one-quarter (27 per cent) always did. One in ten practiced safer sex rarely or some of the time over the last year, and a further 10 per cent did most of the time.

The most common method of safer sex used by Canadians over the last year is the condom (used by 72 per cent). Less than one in ten indicated they limited themselves to a single partner (seven per cent), or abstained from sexual intercourse (six per cent). A further eight per cent said that they used the birth control pill, although this contraceptive method does not meet the definition of safer sex provided in the survey.