In September it emerged that the results of a British sex survey in 1949 were so shocking that it was buried. Some of the 'shock' findings were that one in four men admitted to having had sex with prostitutes, one in five women owned up to an extra-marital affair, while the same proportion of both sexes said they had had a homosexual experience. One of the more colourful findings was the number of women who had premarital sex with soldiers. In those days, the 'I could die tomorrow' maxim really meant something, and many people wanted to go out with a bang (sorry).

Fifty years of sex
Since then we have seen so-called 'free love' in the '60s, the emergence of Deep Throat in the '70s, AIDS in the '80s and ladettes in the '90s. In all this time, there have been very few sex surveys. Even in 1989, that parliamentary sex bomb Margaret Thatcher tried to ban the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes. So much for progress. With the ongoing threat of AIDS and other STDs, how much has sex - and our attitudes to sex - changed in the intervening years? Our survey was completed by 1,800 people in a matter of weeks, so there is obviously no shortage of people willing to talk about it.

Here comes the science bit
Nine out of 10 survey respondents were women and heterosexual, and half were under 25. In spite of the media coverage of lonely career women keeping up with the Bridget Joneses, only three out of 10 respondents were single. Seven out of 10 declared themselves to be in a long-term relationship. Four out of 10 had had less than five sexual partners, while 2.5% had had over 50 - I'm surprised they had the energy to fill in the survey! An impressive 84% said they and their partner believed in a monogamous relationship, but only 77% said they actually were monogamous. OK, the numbers don't quite add up, but if we were expecting revelations about serial monogamists or love cheats, we have certainly been disappointed.

A game of two halves
A recent European survey said that the French were the sexiest nation, having sex on average 137 times a year. So how do our handbaggers compare? Interestingly enough, respondents seemed to be split 50/50 over some major sexual issues. Over half of those surveyed said that they didn't get enough sex. So while nine out of 10 respondents said they were sexually active, they are obviously not active enough. Half of those surveyed have sex more than once a week, so perhaps it is the other half who are dissatisfied. One in five surveyed said they had sex once a week, one in six less than once a month. They obviously weren't French, then.

Changing ends
Half of the respondents said they fantasised about sex with people other than their partners, so you have got to assume that the other half are not watching Lost. When asked if they were OK with one-night stands when single, once again the answers came out 50/50 for and against. Now to the interesting part. When asked whether they ever had fantasises outside of their ordinary sexuality, 65% said yes. Since nine out of 10 respondents were women, this made me feel better about that Beyoncé/Jennifer Aniston dream I had a while back.

Fantasy island
Thus far, our responses have been pretty tame. But what other fantasies are our handbaggers having? Once again, half fantasised about having kinky sex and four out of 10 fantasised about being dominated. Not surprisingly, 28% fantasised about sex with a famous person, the same number fantasised about watching others have sex, and the same number fantasised about stripping for other people. Are these all the same people, I wonder? They should get out (or get it on) more.

Put your money where your mouth is
Ever since Judy Blume's Forever got passed round the playground with certain pages folded down, we've known about sexual fantasy, but what are these people actually doing? Well some things definitely have changed in the last 50 years, with nine out of 10 respondents enjoying oral sex. Three-quarters get turned on by pornography, and nearly half are comfortable with anal sex. Eight out of 10 also believed themselves to be experimental, and weren't afraid to talk about it (well, to a computer anyway). Two out of 10 would consider group sex and one in 10 would consider swinging. Four out of 10 would consider bondage and spanking, while one in five would consider fetishism. A whopping three-quarters were up for dressing-up and role play. Oh, to be a fly on the wall. Eight out of 10 defined 'dangerous sex' as unprotected sex, but one in 10 believed this meant sex with equipment. Since a whopping 86% were happy to use sex toys, we will have to hope that the instructions are better than the ones you get at IKEA.

Let's get serious
If you thought STDs were making us more cautious, however, it isn't happening fast enough. Only six out of 10 thought sexual health very important and well over half (56%) have had unprotected sex without knowing someone's sexual history. When asked if the 'danger' was a turn-on, however, only 7% said yes. For one in five, it was just a matter of getting carried away at the time. Fortunately for them, only 12% ended up with an STD, but nearly half had been tested. More than nine out of 10 respondents believed condoms were the best way to protect your sexual health, while two out of 10 had never had unprotected sex.

So what has changed?
To me, the most shocking thing about the results of the survey is how little has changed. Most of us are monogamous, many of us have fantasies and the full recognition of STDs still seems a long way off. Perhaps the biggest change is our ability to talk about sex, but does this include with our partner? Certainly half of our respondents are not having the right buttons pushed, or often enough. Some buttons, however, are getting plenty of use. Over half had had phone sex, while nearly a third had had internet sex. While these are a sure-fire way to avoid an STD, this doesn't seem to be why people aren't doing it. Perhaps the half of us who are not getting enough sex should ask ourselves why. Sexual fantasies are a normal and healthy part of life - look at the sales of Mills & Boon. But are 21st-century people just too busy to get down to the real thing?