In the 19th century, lots of people had never had intercourse. This is surprisingly high when you think about lifelong singles, including some disabled people, nuns and priests. For a start, in Sex in Australia, 99% of people over 30 say they have had intercourse. Thus many sexually inactive people, especially virgins, are probably missing from sexual behaviour surveys. Refusers are likely to be less sexually liberal in their attitudes and also younger. We know the people who refuse sex surveys are not the same as those who take part. Even in the best random-sample population surveys, on any topic, one in every three or four eligible people refuses to participate.
Some people who suspect they might be confronted with questions about their sexuality and feel uncomfortable answering them might refuse to take part in such surveys. Less than 1% – around 70 people – said they’d never felt sexually attracted to anyone, but this number is probably higher in the real population.
