Contents*

• Preamble 126
• Demographics and a Brief Historical Perspective 126

1. Basic Sexological Premises 129
2. Religious, Ethnic, and Gender Factors Affecting Sexuality 133
3. Knowledge and Education about Sexuality 134
4. Autoerotic Behaviors and Patterns 139
5. Interpersonal Heterosexual Behaviors 139
6. Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Bisexual Behaviors 149
7. Gender Diversity and Transgender Issues 152
8. Significant Unconventional Sexual Behaviors 153
9. Contraception, Abortion, and Population Planning 161
10. Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS 166
11. Sexual Dysfunctions, Counseling, and Therapies 173
12. Sex Research and Advanced Professional Education 174
13. Conclusions 175
14. References and Suggested Readings 176

*A Note for Researchers:  The numbers included in the section titles in the Contents above refer to the page numbers in the print edition of the CCIES. For the convenience of researchers, an Adobe Acrobat (PDF) file of this chapter is available for download above (click the PDF icon), which reflects the actual pagination of the book. This will allow scholarly writers to cite actual page numbers in the printed book for quoted material, as well as its availability on the Web and the URL if desired. See also How to Use This Encyclopedia.

Chapter URL:  http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/ccies/ca.php    Retrieved: 

[Note from the CCIES Website Editor:  Please send any additions, corrections, or updated information to:  Raymond J. Noonan, Ph.D.]

Preamble

This chapter, updated to January 2003, retains much of the content of the 1996-97 version, which we use, where possible, as a basis for comparison with current data and as a reference point, where necessary, for new or revised interpretations. Given Canada’s ethnocultural, linguistic, religious, and urban/rural diversity (see Section A, Demographics, below), and its sociological and gender diversity (Sections 1, Basic Sexological Premises, and 2, Religious, Ethnic, and Gender Factors Affecting Sexuality), we continue to wonder whether it is possible to present an overview of the sexuality of Canadians. The risk in attempting to do so is that one will “homogenize” the rich diversity by taking the “average” opinion or the median frequency of specific behaviors as a reflection of what Canadians are like sexually. On the other hand, a focus on different subgroups within the population may beg the question of whether Canada has a national identity pertaining to sexual customs, beliefs, and practices. At the national (“macro”) level, there are quantitative data about some aspects of behavior—although there have been no large-scale studies of adult sexual behavior in Canada—but it is often difficult to interpret such information in ways that would further our understanding about the particularities of “Canadian” sexuality. On the other hand, studies on selected populations in specific settings, the “micro” approach, are often designed to describe or explain the behavior of that group, but they are seldom done in ways that would permit comparisons across Canada or over time. While sexological research in Canada has grown significantly over the last 20 years, it is still a new field and these limitations on our national database are neither surprising nor insurmountable. Our compromise, therefore, has been to incorporate elements of both the macro and micro approaches, to provide quantitative information where possible, and to make cautious inferences where empirical evidence is lacking.

Demographics and a Brief Historical Perspective

A. Demographics

Canada occupies the northern half of the North American continent with the United States on its southern border, the North Atlantic Ocean on the east, and the North Pacific Ocean and Alaska on its western coast. Although geographically Canada is the largest country in the Western Hemisphere with 3.852 million square miles (9.976 million km²), including the Yukon, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories, only about 10% of its landmass is suitable for permanent large-scale settlement, and only slightly more than that for permanent agriculture. The population of about 31.4 million (2002 Census data) is distributed unevenly among the ten provinces and two territories, with Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta accounting for 85% of the total (see Table 1). About 80% of Canadians live in cities, primarily in the southern regions of the country. In 2001, 51% of Canada’s population were concentrated in four broad regions: the extended Golden Horseshoe in Southwestern Ontario; Montréal and nearby areas; the Lower Mainland of British Columbia and Southern Vancouver Island; and the Calgary-Edmonton corridor. A 3,300-mile (5,300-km) shared border with the United States, a free-trade agreement, and extensive consumption of U.S. media, expose Canadians to strong economic and cultural influences from a country with ten times its population. However, the history, composition (e.g., religious and ethnoracial mix, socioeconomic diversity), and structure (e.g., legal, medical) of the two neighbors differ in ways that have an important influence on sexuality in the two countries.

Canada’s ten provinces, plus the Yukon, Nunavut, and Northwest Territories, are linked through a central federal government, but the various levels of federal, provincial, regional, and municipal government have differing levels of responsibility for health, education, social welfare, legislation, and other areas that have an impact upon sexuality and sexual health.

In July 2002, Canada had an estimated population of 31.4 million. (All data are from Statistics Canada or from The World Factbook 2002 (CIA 2002) unless otherwise stated.)

Although the total fertility rate has been below replacement level for about 30 years (about 1.52 children per woman in 2001), a natural population increase of 0.33% per year, coupled with a net immigration rate of 0.65%, gave Canada a growth rate of 0.98% in 2001 (see Table 2), one of the highest among the world’s industrialized countries. Net immigration contributed about 66% of Canada’s population increase in 2001, and projections for the future suggest that immigration will continue to have a significant impact on Canada’s demography.

By law the federal government is required to state in advance of any year the intended total number of immigrants, refugees, etc., that will be admitted to Canada in that year. As a result of new legislation passed in 2002 (the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act), the most recent of these ongoing Annual Reports to Parliament on Immigration was the first to be submitted under the new Act. The plan for 2003 calls for 220,000-245,000 new permanent residents, of whom 60% are categorized as economic class, 26% as family class, and 13% as refugees. Family class refers to a foreign national who is the spouse, common-law partner, conjugal partner, child, or parent of a Canadian citizen or permanent resident. This category reflects a governmental commitment to family reunification. Economic class refers to those immigrants who are skilled workers. Unlike the earlier emphasis on occupation-based criteria, the 2003 plan looks to flexible/transferable skills in the trades, and in the technical and professional domains, as well as proficiency in English and/or French. While the government has maintained a commitment to those individuals entering Canada as Refugee class, economic and social factors (e.g., the presence of relatives in Canada) will also be taken into account. By 2011, immigration is expected to account for all of Canada’s net labor force growth, and by 2031, for all net population growth.

Immigration patterns in the recent past and in the future will thus continue to alter the already varied ethnocultural composition of the Canadian population, particularly in the larger urban centers to which a high proportion of immigrants have been drawn. For example, in 2000, 90% of immigrants went to three provinces (Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec) and 75% of these went to the largest urban centers in these provinces (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal), with Toronto receiving well over half of this group. Canada’s changing ethnocultural composition is worth considering here because the continuing trend to ethnocultural diversity means that a wide range of attitudes, traditions, and practices surrounding marriage, sexuality, sex-role expectations, and sexual taboos are now present as a source of both variety and potential challenge in Canadian society. For example, in contrast to the current national ethnic distribution data from the 1991 census, the top five sources of immigrants to Canada in 2000 were the People’s Republic of China (16.2%), India (11.5%), Pakistan (6.2%), Philippines (4.4%), and Korea (3.4%). The United States and United Kingdom were seventh and tenth respectively, together representing 4.6% of immigrants in 2002.

B. A Brief Historical Perspective

ROBERT T. FRANCOEUR

The French explorer, Jacques Cartier, who reached the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1534, is generally regarded as the founder of Canada, although John Cabot, an English seaman had sighted Newfoundland 37 years earlier, and Vikings are believed to have reached the same area centuries before either Cartier or Cabot. The French pioneered settlement by establishing Quebec City in 1606, Montreal in 1642, and declaring Canada a colony in 1663. The British acquired Acadia (Nova Scotia) in 1717 and captured Quebec in 1759. By 1763, Britain had gained control of the rest of New France. The Quebec Act of 1774 gave the French in Upper Canada the right to their own language, religion, and civil law. The English presence in Canada increased during the American Revolution, when many American colonists loyal to the crown moved north to Canada. Fur traders and explorers pioneered paths to the west, with Sir Alexander Mackenzie reaching the Pacific in 1793.

Upper and Lower Canada, later known as Quebec and Ontario, and the Maritime Provinces developed their own local legislative assemblies in the 1700s, and reformers called for a more responsible government. The War of 1812 between Britain and the United States delayed the move toward a more democratic government, but by 1837 political agitation had led to rebellions in both Upper and Lower Canada. Lord Durham’s report recommended union of the two parts into one colony, to be called Canada. This union continued until 1867 when the Dominion of Canada was established with Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. A federal system of government was developed, modeled on the British parliament and cabinet structure under the Crown. In 1982, Canada ended its last formal legislative link with Britain by assuming control over its constitution. In 1987, the so-called Meech Lake Agreement would have assured constitutional protection for Quebec’s efforts to protect its French language and culture. Its failure in 1990 sparked a separatist revival which remains a major issue for the country. In 1992, the Northwest Territories approved creation of a self-governing homeland for the 17,500 Inuit living in the Territories, to be known as Nunavut, “Our Land.” In June of 1993 the Canadian Parliament passed the “Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act” and the “Nunavut Act.” Finally, on April 1, 1999, the territory of Nunavut officially joined the federation of Canada.

C. Ethnocultural Composition: Ethnic Origins and Recent Immigration

The face of Canada, as is true for the United States and Australia, has been shaped by immigrants. European settlers from the United Kingdom (U.K.) and France are considered the two founding nations of Canada (and the current ethnic composition of the population still reflects that background). However, many First Nations groups were already inhabiting the region when these settlers arrived, including Cree, Dakota, Dene, Gitksan, Gwich’in, Huron, Innu, Inuit, Mohawk, Micmac, Naskapi, Ojibway, Saulteaux, and Salish. In the 1996 census, 1.1 million people (3.9% of the population) identified either single or mixed aboriginal ancestry. Overall, 28 percent of Canada’s population in 1996 reported ethnic origins other than British, French, or Canadian. Data cited above on source countries for immigration in 2000 suggest that this percentage has probably shifted upward in the last 10 years.

Canada’s 1996 census (the most recent data available at writing) provides the most accurate and current profile of the the ethnic origins of people living in Canada. A review of 1991 census data by Renaud and Badets (1993) and selected observations from a major study on families in Canada (Vanier Institute of the Family 1994) are also used below to summarize the increasingly diverse ethnocultural composition of Canadian society.

Ethnic origin is taken to mean the cultural or ethnic group to which one’s distant relatives belonged. In the 1996 census, respondents were asked to indicate whether their ancestry was a single ethnic group (e.g., French) or multiple (two or more groups, e.g., British and French). Unlike the previous census, respondents were also given the option “Canadian” as a potential ethnic origin. It should be noted that the addition of the “Canadian” category changed the relative distribution of ethnic origins significantly, particularly for the British and French categories, as well as rendering a direct comparison of 1991 and 1996 census data more difficult. Rounded percentages for the largest groupings for the 1996 census were:

Canadian (19%), British Isles only (17%), combination British, French, or Canadian and other (16%), combination British and French or Canadian (10%), European single origin (13%), French only, i.e., French and Acadian (9%), single East and South East Asian origin (5%), aboriginal (4%), and South Asian (2%).

A report by Badets and Chui (1994) documents the changing pattern of immigration to Canada that has produced such ethnocultural diversity. While early immigrants to Canada came predominantly from the United Kingdom and Europe, that trend has shifted, particularly during the 1980s, 1990s, and into the 21st century. Between 1981 and 1991, 48% of immigrants to Canada were born in Asian countries, 25% in Europe and the United Kingdom, 10% in Central and South America, 6% each in the Caribbean and Africa, and 4% in the United States. In 1991, about 16% of Canada’s population was born outside the country, which is not much different from the 15% figure reported 30 years earlier. Of these, 54% were from Europe and the United Kingdom and 25% from Asian countries. Most of the 4.3 million people in Canada in 1991 who were born outside the country either had become or were expected to become Canadian citizens.

About 94% of them live in four provinces (Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, and Alberta), predominantly in one of the three largest metropolitan areas (Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver). For example, 38% of Toronto’s population in 1991 was not born in Canada. This rich ethnocultural diversity in some areas of the country provides a variety of sociosexual customs and gender-role expectations that must be considered in education, healthcare, and public policy related to sexuality. These issues include: developing effective ways to prevent HIV infection among communities of First Nations people and other ethnocultural groups; differing attitudes and beliefs toward sexuality between first-generation immigrant parents and their children or between recent immigrants and the “predominant” culture; cross-cultural differences in gender-role expectations, deference to authority, emphasis on reproduction and childrearing as the rationale for marriage; arranged marriages; attitudes and policies toward women who experienced genital mutilation(female circumcision) and wish it for their children; willingness of some groups to use sex selection to provide a child of the preferred sex, usually male; and varied traditions concerning public discussion about sexuality, sex education, and discussion between the sexes about sexual problems and dysfunctions.

D. Linguistic Diversity

As expected from the ethnic origins of the population, 59% of Canadians reported English as their only first language (i.e., the one they learned at home in childhood and still understand), 23% French, and 18% one of the “nonofficial” languages (2001 census). In examining the ten-year trend from 1991 to 2001, the percentage of individuals claiming English as their first language changed only slightly from 61% to 59%. Similarly, the percentage claiming French as their first language dropped only slightly from 24 to 23%. The largest change, however, was noted in the percentage of individuals claiming a non-official language. This percentage rose from 13% to 17% from 1991 to 1996, and then from 17% to 18% from 1996 to 2001. The rise from 1991 to 1996 represents a 15% increase in people who claim a mother tongue other than French or English. Furthermore, this growth is 2.5 times faster than the overall growth rate of the Canadian population. Most French-speaking Canadians live in Quebec (in 1996, 86% of Canada’s French-speaking population lived in Quebec), but there are groups of Acadians in New Brunswick and French-speaking communities in other parts of Canada. Immigrants (those not born in Canada) accounted for about two thirds of those whose first language was neither English nor French and for about three quarters of those who spoke a language other than English or French at home.

1. Basic Sexological Premises

A. Character of Gender Roles

At present, over half of Canadian women who are raising children also work outside the home. As of 1998, for individuals between 25 and 54 years of age, 81% of never-married women and 85% of never-married men were working. Among married individuals age 25 to 54, 77% of women and 94% of men were working. Compared to the fewer than 50% of married women working in 1976, this represents a sizeable increase in the number of married women employed outside the home (Vanier Institute 2000). Although single (never married) women and men are equally likely to be employed (59 to 60% for both sexes in 1981 and 1991), the proportion of married women employed increased from 47% in 1981 to 56% in 1991. This represents a major change in the employment experience of women and is a reflection of changed economic circumstances, more single-parent families, and the altered gender-role expectations and opportunities for women over the last 30 years. However, the majority of women continue to work in occupations where women are traditionally concentrated. In 2001, 70% of all employed women were found in the areas of teaching, nursing and related health occupations, clerical or other administrative positions, or sales and service occupations. This is compared with 30% of employed men. Thus, although the population of women in traditional female occupations has slowly declined from 1987 to 2001 (from 74% to 70%), and men and women are approaching equality in labor force participation, the labor force remains sex segregated with men and women concentrated in different areas.

In her book, Gender Relations in Canada, Marlene Mackie (1991) identified the evolution of feminism and of the feminist movement in Canada as a major influence on gender-role expectations, on women’s social and economic status, on their perceptions of themselves as agents for change, and, hence, on the social and interpersonal aspects of relationships within and between the sexes. The most recent wave of that movement, beginning in the late 1960s, has gradually altered the legislative landscape regarding equal employment, pay equity, access to legal abortion and contraception, sexual harassment, maternity leave, daycare, and a range of other issues that affect women’s social and economic well-being. Mackie (1991) suggests that the “official” beginning of the feminist movement in Canada occurred in the period that preceded the federal government’s decision, in 1967, to establish the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. The commission’s mandate was to assess the prevailing situation regarding the position of women in Canada, and then to “recommend what steps might be taken by the Federal Government to ensure for women equal opportunities in all aspects of Canadian society” (Mackie 1991, 255). Three years later, after hearings across Canada, the commission issued its report which contained 167 recommendations (Mackie 1991).

Mackie suggests that three dimensions of feminism—liberal, socialist, and radical—have each had an impact on different spheres of life in Canada. Liberal feminism mobilized action to establish the Royal Commission and guided the emergence and agenda of large national organizations, such as the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women, and the provincial liaison groups. These groups have acted to achieve equity in the workplace, fair property rights when marriages end in divorce, and a host of other changes that reformed the existing social system. Socialist feminists challenged the oppression of women within the economic system and within the family and approached some of the same agenda items as liberal feminism but from a different perspective. Their focus on both class and gender issues aligned this branch of feminism with the concerns of lesbians, immigrant women, and women of color (Adamson et al. 1988, as cited in Mackie 1991). Radical feminists and socialist feminists, says Mackie, share the premise “that the dominant male culture promulgates a picture of reality that buttresses patriarchy and denigrates women.” (Mackie 1991, 260). Citing Adamson et al. (1988), Mackie views radical feminism as instrumental in the establishment of rape crisis centers, in campaigns against pornography, and in founding shelters for battered women. The lesbian/gay liberation movement has taken place almost concurrently with the women’s movement and embodies and is informed by many of the same concepts of gender equality, personal freedom, and human rights.

From an institutional and legislative perspective, it would appear that liberal feminism has influenced contemporary government policy and corporate practice. These changes have been the source of some conflict. For example, the Toronto-based group R.E.A.L. Women of Canada (Realistic, Equal, Active, for Life), founded in 1983, now has chapters in all provinces and is the most prominent of the organizations opposing at least some of the legislative and social trends encouraged by the feminist movement. This group opposes policies that it believes either undermine the family or promote homosexuality as an acceptable alternative to heterosexual marriage. It advocates programs that would allow women to choose to stay at home with their children (e.g., through tax credits that would permit this option in lieu of universal daycare). The organization is on the right politically and in terms of social policy and gender relations, and it espouses a more traditional and restrictive sexual philosophy than that of most Canadians. The growth of the political and religious right in Canada, although it has occurred to a lesser extent than in the U.S., suggests strong dissatisfaction, in this group, with some aspects of the trend to more egalitarian gender relations. Men’s rights groups in Canada, e.g., In Search of Justice, also believe that some of the legislative changes influenced by the feminist movement have unfairly disadvantaged men. Most of their efforts have centered on issues of child custody and support following divorce.

The nascent men’s movement in Canada—not to be confused with men’s rights groups—has at least two “branches.” One emphasizes the consequences for men of traditional, socially imposed male roles and seeks new ways to be male. The other, represented by groups such as Men Against Sexism, considers patriarchy and men’s violence to be the major threats to women and seeks to change the structures and forms of social organization that perpetuate domination of one group by another at the interpersonal, social, or international level (see Kaufman 1987). The latter group has an annual white ribbon campaign to highlight men’s opposition to violence against women.

B. Sociolegal Status of Males and Females

In the formation and enforcement of laws and policies, Canada is a federation of provinces and territories. Some areas of jurisdiction—e.g., the criminal code that governs sexual assault, sex work, divorce, and censorship—are federal and require the passage and modification of laws by the Canadian Parliament. The enforcement of most laws, through policing and the courts, however, as well as jurisdiction over matters of education, civil conduct (e.g., allowable conduct in various locations, property offenses, alcohol, and tobacco laws), family law (e.g., division of property in divorce, parental rights, and responsibilities), and delivery of healthcare, are within provincial or local jurisdiction. Consequently, it is difficult to draw conclusions that apply across the country. In some locations, most notably Quebec and British Columbia, federal and local laws have been applied in a manner that supports greater equality between men and women and protection of various segments of society from discrimination. In others, e.g., Alberta and Saskatchewan, there has been a more limited interpretation and application of related federal legislation and passage of fewer provincial laws providing protection of groups and guarantees of equal treatment.

Equality before the law, regardless of gender and sexual orientation, is a relatively modern development in Canada. Legislation and court rulings that established such equality, though generally considered to have begun in the late 1800s with the “Person’s” case, in which women were included in all legal documents under the status of “person” (prior to this, only men were included), are primarily a phenomenon of the past 35 years. Several landmark changes, which will be referred to throughout this chapter, include:

While many other legislative changes and court rulings have influenced the sociolegal status of various groups of Canadians, these are generally considered among the landmarks that have established the contemporary position of men and women, adults and children, and people of different sexual orientations.

Today, men and women are equal before the law in Canada, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms enshrines this principle. Both the public and private sector have adopted policies to increase the proportion of women in those work settings in which they have been traditionally underrepresented, and employment equity legislation has been implemented in the public sector in some provinces to rationalize pay scales according to job requirements. Men continue, however, to predominate in positions of power and leadership (e.g., government and major corporations).

Equal treatment of lesbian and gay individuals in law and in areas of employment, housing, and so on, is increasing, to a sizable degree because of court challenges and threatened challenges (which have used the Charter of Rights and Freedoms) to eliminate discriminatory practices. Equal treatment does not exist, however, with respect to parental rights, spousal relationships, employee benefits, and other such issues, although court decisions continue to set precedents in the absence of legislated change (see Section 6, Homoerotic, Homosexual, and Bisexual Behaviors). It is increasingly common for large corporations to extend such benefits even though they are not yet required in law to do so.

Current legislation regarding nonconsensual sexual behavior does not discriminate on the basis of sex (e.g., sexual assault law applies to both sexes). Children under the age of 14 cannot consent to sexual activity with an adult (i.e., anyone 18 or over), and an adult engaging in such activity with a child could be charged with “sexual interference,” or “sexual assault” (because consent, even if given, is not legally recognized) (MacDonald 1994). An “invitation to sexual touching” would also be illegal if the invitee was under 14. In the foregoing offense categories, a person of 12 or 13 would be deemed able to give consent if the other person was not more than two years older and was not in a position of authority over the complainant.

The acts associated with sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching are also proscribed when done toward a person 14 to 17 by someone in a position of trust, authority, or dependency. The legislated age of consent for anal intercourse is 18, in contrast to 14 for other sexual activities. Specifically, individuals under the age of 18 cannot consent to anal intercourse unless legally married. However, this has been debated in the courts. In 1995, the Ontario Court of Appeal struck down the relevant section of the criminal code, with two judges finding it discriminatory with respect to age and one with respect to sexual orientation. A similar outcome was noted in a Quebec Court of Appeal in 1998.

There is also a statute on “corrupting children” (i.e., anyone under 18) by exposing them to adultery, sexual immorality, habitual drunkenness, and the like, but this provision is rarely prosecuted (MacDonald 1994). In general, the contentious nature of consent laws is also reflected in the frequent demands by various professional groups (e.g., Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police) and family and children’s rights activists to raise the age of consent to 16. However, such amendments have yet to be considered.

Although Canadian law defines adults as those 18 or over, there are provincial variations affecting such things as tobacco, alcohol use, and age of consent to medical treatment. For example, it is illegal to sell tobacco products to someone under 18 in Canada, but that age was raised to 19 in Ontario. The ages at which it is legal to sell alcohol to someone vary across the provinces, ranging between 18 and 21 years. Consent to treatment provisions also vary by province. For example, for several years Quebec has set 14 as the general age of consent, including for birth control, abortion, and STD treatment. Ontario’s Consent to Treatment Act, which became law in 1995, was designed primarily to regulate treatment, particularly of those incapacitated or vulnerable in some way, when existing law is unclear. It also applies to treatment of children. For example, physicians, nurses, and clinic staff working outside hospital settings may treat children of 12 or even 11 without parental notification based on the practitioner’s judgment of the child’s capacity to give informed consent. Contentious areas in this regard might include prescribing birth control pills, pregnancy counseling, or diagnosis, counseling, and treatment for STDs. Notification of parents when the child does not wish them to be informed is left to the prudent judgment of the practitioner, and confidentiality of records would be handled in a similar manner. However, if the treatment is given in a hospital setting, parental consent to treatment would be needed for children under 16. Some other provinces set age of consent to treatment closer to the age of 16. These issues reflect the current attempts to balance children’s rights and parents’ rights when the two appear to be in conflict. A similar balancing in relation to acceptance of children’s testimony in court is also taking place in Canada (see Section 8A, Significant Unconventional Sexual Behaviors, Coercive Sex, on sexual abuse).

Canada is in a stage of change with respect to matters of law and policy regarding the status of men, women, children, the variously abled and disabled, and individuals of differing sexual orientations. If the trends of recent years continue, the change will be in the direction of provision of greater guarantees of equal treatment, increased access to a variety of sexual health services, protection of individual rights, and protection against discrimination. However, there are segments of Canadian society that challenge these changes and have mounted various campaigns to limit their scope. The future picture with respect to legal matters cannot be predicted.

C. General Concepts and Constructs of Sexuality

There have been no systematic, large-scale national studies on the sexual attitudes or conduct of Canadian adults. In November 1993, a major Canadian polling agency (Decima Research) conducted a national telephone survey of 1,610 Canadian residents randomly selected from the ten provinces (Maclean’s/CTV Poll 1994), in which a variety of questions involving sexual attitudes were included. [Note: Neither the Northwest Territories nor the Yukon were included because of their sparse population; sample sizes in the less-populated provinces were increased to reduce province-by-province errors.] The following sampling of the survey findings provides some background for subsequent speculation on Canadians’ perspectives on sexuality and public policy. Given the small sample size and the methodological limitations of such a study, the results are at best indicative.

Most survey respondents felt that in the last 10 to 20 years, Canadian attitudes on sexual matters had become far more permissive (43%) or more permissive (30%), with a higher percentage of those over 55 years old viewing the change as far more permissive (e.g., 59% of 55- to 64-year-olds vs. 32% of 25- to 34-year-olds). One reflection of the change in permissiveness is Canadian attitudes toward premarital sex (i.e., premarital intercourse). In a 1990 national survey of adults, Bibby and Posterski (1992) found that 80% agreed or strongly agreed that premarital sex was acceptable. This compares to 68% in agreement in 1975. Approval ranged from 92% among 18- to 34-year-olds (vs. 90% in 1975) to 59% of those 55 and over (vs. 42% in 1975). Slightly more people disagreed than agreed that a person should have more than one sexual partner before marriage (50% disagreed, 39% agreed, and 11% had no opinion). In a 1995 study with a similarly representative sample of Canadian adults, Bibby (1995) found continued high levels of acceptance of sex outside of marriage (this includes “premarital” and “intermarital” activity) among the young (89% of 18- to 34-year-olds approved) and an ongoing increase in acceptance among older Canadians (62% of those over 55 approved vs. 42% in 1975). Bibby (1995) attributed the latter shift to aging of the baby boom generation that came of age in the 1960s, and suggested that by 2010, about 85% of Canadians would approve, with 15% remaining opposed.

With respect to having an extramarital affair, 80% of respondents to the Maclean’s/CTV poll said it was never OK, 10% not usually OK, and 6% sometimes or always OK. This response did not differ according to gender, but respondents from Quebec, and French-speaking respondents in general, were less likely to say “never OK” (about 65 to 67% vs. 79 to 91% in the other provinces). Respondents were somewhat less likely to condemn extramarital affairs under all circumstances (e.g., “it is totally unacceptable for a married person to have an affair”). In this case, 70% agreed or strongly agreed, whereas 22% disagreed and 7% strongly disagreed. Men were slightly more likely to be accepting than women. There was no difference based on age, but respondents from Quebec were much less likely to agree strongly that it was always unacceptable (19%) and more likely to disagree or strongly disagree (45%). Bibby (1995) also found low levels of approval, in that 85% in 1995 said that extramarital sex was always or almost always wrong (compared to 78% in 1975). Although, responses differed by age (78% for 35- to 54-year-olds vs. 90% for those 18 to 34 and 55 and over), Bibby noted that overall, Canadians’ attitudes toward extramarital sex have become less approving over the last 20 years. This does not seem to be a simple reflection of aging of the population, because young people are among the most disapproving.

When asked if they considered masturbation to be a healthy part of one’s sex life, 8% strongly agreed, 57% agreed, 30% disagreed, and 5% strongly disagreed. There were no sex differences in agreement, older respondents were less likely to agree (although 52% of those 65 and older agreed), and Quebec again had the highest agreement, with 78% overall considering masturbation to be a healthy part of one’s sex life.

When asked if they would feel uncomfortable talking with their children about sex, few indicated that they would be uncomfortable (about 17%). This indirect declaration of comfort was evident for both sexes and for the age groups most likely to be involved in rearing young children or teens. It is unlikely that this perceived comfort always translates into actual discussion, particularly in the area of sexual decision-making. For example, Bibby and Posterski (1992) found that while a sizable percentage of teens identified parents as the first source they would consult when making decisions about what is “right and wrong” (45%), or about school (45%) or a major problem (31%), fewer chose parents first for decisions about “sex” (8%) or relationships (7%); friends were most likely to be chosen in both of the latter categories (55% and 75%, respectively).

Legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is now common in most provinces, and this trend, although actively opposed by some individuals and groups, reflects a shift in Canadian attitudes (Section 6 discusses gay/lesbian issues in more detail). Two of the Maclean’s/CTV survey questions assessed attitudes toward homosexuality. When asked if “it would be fine if one of my kids turned out to be gay,” 11% of respondents strongly agreed, 45% agreed, 29% disagreed, and 14% strongly disagreed. Women were more accepting than men in this regard (64% of men agreed vs. 49% of women), younger were more accepting than older respondents, and those in Quebec were more likely to agree (85%) than in the rest of Canada (46%). On the statement “It would bother me if openly gay and lesbian people were teaching in the schools,” the responses generally paralleled those above (56% would not be bothered, 44% agreed that they would be bothered; women were slightly more accepting than men). Bibby (1995) also found evidence of increasingly accepting attitudes toward homosexuality (32% said it was not at all wrong and 16 % sometimes wrong in 1995), up from 38% acceptance in 1990 and 28% in 1975. This still leaves half the population considering homosexuality always or almost always wrong. Interestingly, Bibby (1995) also found that between 1990 and 1995, during a period of active debate about inclusion of gay rights in the Human Rights Code (which occurred in 1996), approval of the idea that gays and lesbian should have the same rights as other Canadians dropped from 80% in 1990 to 67% in 1995. Bibby saw it as somewhat paradoxical that “just when Canadians are exhibiting both an increasing acceptance of homosexuality and greater social comfort with lesbians and gays, they now are also exhibiting increasing discomfort with the idea of extending them equal rights” (Bibby 1995, 74). One might argue that this is a temporary shift based on a tendency of some Canadians to be displeased with both sides in periods of acrimonious and politicized debate.

Television, the print media, and film provide Canadians with regular reminders of social policy issues related to sexuality (pornography, prostitution, sexual abuse, etc.). While these themes will be examined in later sections, survey respondents’ attitudes on selected examples give an indication of the prevailing dynamic on such matters. For example, 52% agreed that prostitution should be legalized, with a slightly higher proportion of males than females and of Québécois versus non-Québécois agreeing. Interestingly, agreement was lowest among 18- to 24-year-olds (33% agreed but 57% disagreed, including 26% who strongly disagreed). In contrast, 60 to 64% of 35- to 54-year-olds agreed. Concerning the acceptability of people watching sexually explicit movies, 60% of males versus 34% of females said it was sometimes or always OK and 25% of males versus 48% of females said it was never OK. The statement “pornography is always degrading to women” yielded agreement from 69% of respondents (58% of men and 80% of women). Since respondents gave higher levels of agreement to the idea that “erotic magazines and movies can help make your sex life more interesting” (50% of males and 38% of females agreed) it would appear that Canadians make some distinction between the term “erotica” (which they associate with pleasure) and pornography (which they associate with harm). As we show in Section 8C, Significant Unconventional Sexual Behaviors, Pornography and Erotica, it is the latter distinction that forms the basis for current obscenity law in Canada.

Taken collectively, the foregoing observations support the conclusion that more Canadians in the 1990s than in prior years accept, or are at least tolerant of, a wider diversity of forms of sexual conduct, expression, and communication. This is particularly the case in areas outside the domain of marriage, as seen in the continued lack of acceptance of extramarital sex by the vast majority of Canadians, and by increased acceptance of an unmarried couple living together (in 1995, 78% of Canadians approved, Bibby 1995). However, as Bibby and Posterski (1992) observed, these changes are more a result of population change than of individual change.

The sexual revolution changed the way Canadians viewed sex outside of marriage. But, having succeeded in transforming attitudes and behavior about sex, the revolution has long been over. What we have witnessed in the past decade or so is the transmission of the new sexual values from first-generation revolutionists to their offspring. The reason the national figures of acceptance have risen over the past 20 years is not because young people are becoming more permissive than their parents. Rather, the protests of grandparents troubled by the changes have—with their passing—been relegated to history. (Bibby & Posterski 1992, 40)

Of note is the consistently greater acceptance and tolerance of diverse forms of sexual expression on the part of French-speaking (primarily resident in the province of Quebec) as compared to other Canadians. This theme, repeated in other sections of our review, is considered by sociologists to be related to a general decline in the influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec, coupled with the rapid move of women into the labor force in this province; again, this is reflective not so much of a change in individual attitude, but of population and demographic changes over the years.

2. Religious, Ethnic, and Gender Factors Affecting Sexuality

A. Religion and Religious Observance

In a report based on the 1996 General Social Survey, Clark (1998) examined the reported religious affiliations of Canadians 15 and over and found 45% to be Romans Catholic, 20% mainline Protestant (United, Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran), 6% conservative Protestant, and 3% claimed affiliation with one of the Eastern non-Christian religions (Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or others). In general, this reflects a drop in the number of individuals claiming mainline Protestant affiliation and an increase in those with Eastern non-Christian traditions. These figures reflect the British and French origins of the country and the historical predominance of British and European immigration. Other non-Christian religious affiliations, beginning with the First Nations peoples and extending to subsequent immigration by different groups, include: Judaism, Buddhism, Islam, Hindu, and Sikh. The Christian “fundamentalist” religious presence that has challenged sex education and secular sexual laws and attitudes in some parts of the U.S. is less prevalent in Canada, although “conservative” religious groups are among the only ones that have increased in numbers in recent years. The number of individuals 15 and over claiming no religious affiliation has also risen from 1% in 1961, to 13% in 1991, and finally, to 14% by 1996.

Attendance at religious services has generally been declining since the mid-1940s. In 1990, 24% attended at least once a week, 12% once a month, and 27% once a year. By 1996, only 20% of the adult Canadian population reported attending religious services every week, and 10% said they attended only once or twice a year. A further 32% who claimed religious affiliation did not attend religious services at all. This decline has also been noted across all age groups. Those 65 and over were more likely to be weekly attenders in 1990 (42%) than those of younger ages (15 to 24 years: 15%; 25 to 44 years: 18%; 45 to 64 years: 32%). By 1996, these rates has dropped to 34% for those age 65 and over and to 12% for 15- to 24-year-olds. Nevertheless, a telephone survey of 4,510 adults conducted in 1993 by the Angus Reid Group (a major polling agency) for Maclean’s (a national news magazine with wide distribution) (April 12, 1993) reported that 78% affiliate themselves with a Christian denomination, 74% disagree with the statement “I am not a Christian,” and about 65% stated belief in traditional Christian theological doctrines. Similarly, Bibby’s Project Canada survey revealed in 1995 that the vast majority of Canadians (81%) still believe in God.

The trend to secular beliefs that conflict with Church doctrine is seen in the fact that, among self-described Roman Catholics polled, 91% approve of artificial birth control, 82% condone premarital sex, 84% would allow priests to marry, 55% view homosexual behavior as morally acceptable, and only 20% support the Church’s stance that abortion should be opposed in all circumstances except when the life of the woman is at risk. At the other end of the spectrum, when a church moves away from traditional patterns, as the United Church of Canada did by accepting the ordination of non-celibate, homosexual clergy, a sizable minority felt the church was becoming too liberal in its teachings. Those on the conservative end of the belief spectrum within their denominations are the most active opponents of abortion and proponents of “abstinence-only” sex education in the schools.

Among the almost 4,000 15- to 19-year-old high school students surveyed by Bibby and Posterski (1992), though 79% identified themselves with a particular organized religious denomination, only 19% of 15-year-olds and 13% of 19-year-olds attended weekly religious services, 15% said they received a high level of enjoyment from their involvement in an organized religion, and 24% viewed themselves as committed. Despite the apparently low and declining interest in organized religion (10% considered religious involvement “very important”), 24% rated “spirituality” and 46% “the quest for truth” as very important. Bibby and Posterski (1992) found that teens are highly receptive to spiritual and values-related issues. Supernatural beliefs also appeared to be more common than one might expect based on religious involvement. For example, the percentages agreeing with various supernatural beliefs were: God exists (81%), Divinity of Jesus (80%), some people have psychic powers (69%), life after death (64%), astrology (52%), extrasensory perception (52%), contact with the spirit world (44%), and ‘I will be reincarnated’ (32%). These percentages are similar in most respects to those for adults asked the same questions in a 1990 survey (see Bibby & Posterski 1992).

These data suggest that while most Canadians are moving away from active involvement in religious institutions, they retain a core of religious beliefs and an interest in spiritual ideas and philosophies. Given this trend, it would be expected that the specific teachings of and stands taken by religious institutions on issues of sexuality might have less influence on Canadians today than they did in the past. This is illustrated most explicitly in the attitudes of French Canadians compared to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. For some newer Canadians, however, results of some research suggest that affiliation with religious institutions and involvement in their activities may remain important, with churches, temples, and mosques providing a center for activities of ethnic communities (Maticka-Tyndale et al. 1996). Though to date there are no large-scale studies of the influence of religion and religious involvement in different immigrant groups, results from research by sociologists across North America suggest that the teachings of religious institutions will have more influence on individuals and communities where involvement in those institutions is higher.

B. Ethnocultural Diversity and Sexuality

The varied ethnocultural backgrounds of Canadians described above have significant implications for sexuality and sexual health. Behavior is strongly influenced by social and cultural factors, and recent immigrants to Canada, in particular, may face complex challenges in understanding and adapting to a new culture. However, it is difficult in a brief review to encompass the ways that cultural traditions in other spheres of social life both reflect and create expectations regarding sexual behavior for Canada’s varied ethnocultural groups. In most cases, national statistical data on specific aspects of sexual behavior do not exist, and it is rare to find qualitative studies focused on the broad aspects of sexual activities and beliefs within different ethnocultural communities. Concerns about AIDS and sexual abuse have generated research within selected communities. Examples include a network of studies in several ethnocultural communities. The largest of these, the federally funded Ethnocultural Communities Facing AIDS study, was conducted in collaboration with representatives from six communities—Chinese, South Asian, Horn of Africa, English-speaking Caribbean, North African Muslim, and Latin American—in the three cities that receive the largest proportion of immigrants to Canada (Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver). This project used a combination of ethnographic and survey techniques and had two goals: (1) the development of a knowledge base about cultural and psychosocial factors influencing sexual behaviors that place people at risk for HIV infection; and (2) formation of recommendations for prevention programming in these communities. Overviews of results and recommendations from the qualitative phase of research were published in the six-booklet report, Many Voices:HIV/AIDS in the Context of Culture. Final reports based on community surveys were also prepared (see Health Canada 1994a-f, for community reports; also Adrien et al. 1995; “HIV” 1996; Maticka-Tyndale et al. 1995).

3. Knowledge and Education about Sexuality

A. Government Policies and Programs

Because Canadian political structures and social life are based on a relatively nonintrusive conception of democratic society, formal sources of sex education have, for the most part, refrained from overtly imposing specific “doctrinal” sexual values on Canadians. For example, institutions such as the public schools have generally not sought to inculcate particular views on the acceptability of premarital sex. Instead, the school is more likely to offer information and guidance intended to help students make informed decisions about their sexual behavior; counseling and health facilities generally operate from the premise of providing information and care (e.g., to decrease sexually transmitted disease and unwanted pregnancy) regardless of position or status. This is not to say that sex education in the schools is free of ideology or that some Canadians would not wish stronger influence for their particular ideological position. Nevertheless, it appears that school-based sexuality education generally aspires to a non-doctrinal stance based on democratic principles (see McKay 1997).

Because education in Canada falls under provincial rather than federal jurisdiction, the Ministry of Education (or Department of Education) for each of the ten provinces and three territories usually has its own guidelines and/or curricula for sexuality education and its own procedures for implementing them. However, there are various programs through which the national government collaborates with the provinces and/or operates independently in this area, particularly within the context of the Division of Sexual Health Promotion and STD Prevention and Control. The federal government provides funding for a variety of provincial organizations and researchers concerned with education and treatment pertaining to sexual health (AIDS, STDs, sexual-abuse prevention, women’s reproductive health, etc.). For example, both the AIDS Information and Education Services Unit of Health Canada, which operates within the Programs Division of the Health Promotion Directorate of the Health Programs and Services Branch, and the AIDS Care, Treatment, and Support Unit of Health Canada, which operates within the Preventive Health Services Division of the Health Services Directorate of the same Branch, provide this kind of federal-provincial linkage.

A joint venture between Health Services and Health Promotion led to production in 1994 of the Canadian Guidelines for Sexual Health Education. The Guidelines, produced by a national working group coordinated by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN) under a contract agreement with Health Canada, provide a unifying framework, a philosophy, and a set of principles to unite and guide those providing, planning, or updating sexual health education programs and/or services for people of all ages across Canada. The Guidelines can be used as a frame of reference for assessing both the overall network and the individual components of existing sexual health education programs and related services at the national, provincial, or local level. However, the document cautions against a single “authoritative” definition of sexual health as a static phenomenon that can be readily identified, and hence prescribed, by experts. Sexual health education is seen as “a broadly based, community-supported enterprise in which the individual’s personal, family, religious, and social values are engaged in understanding and making decisions about sexual behavior and implementing those decisions” (Minister of Supply and Services 1994, 4). A revised set of guidelines is slated to be released in mid-2003.

Another joint venture that involved the federal government and the provincial ministries of health and education supported development and evaluation of “Skills for Healthy Relationships,” a program about sexuality, AIDS, and other STDs for early high school students. Developed by the Social Program Evaluation Group at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, the program is now available to any school/school board or Ministry of Education that wishes to assume the cost of duplicating the materials (available from the National AIDS Clearinghouse of the Canadian Public Health Association). An in-service training session for teachers is an important component of the program, as was the large-scale program evaluation done independently by researchers not involved with development or implementation of the program (Warren & King 1994). Other federal and provincial/territorial government programs related to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment (see Section 10, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and HIV/AIDS) and to other aspects of sexual health will be discussed as the relevant topics arise throughout the chapter.

Sexuality Education in Elementary and Secondary Schools

All provinces and territories have school programs that include sexuality education, although the content and extent of implementation varies considerably between provinces and within different parts of the same province. While school-based sexuality education programs are a provincial responsibility, the federal government has a variety of programs through which it can assist sexuality education in schools or sexual health education for all ages in the community. As noted above, the Division of Sexual Health Promotion and STD Prevention and Control, the National Health Research and Development Program, the Division of HIV/AIDS Epidemiology and Surveillance (Bureau of HIV/AID, STD, and TB in the Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Canada), and other government departments may support researchers and community organizations in diverse sexuality education programs and services. Local public health units within specific municipalities of each province are also actively involved in public education about contraception, AIDS and other STDs, sexual abuse, and other aspects of sexual health, and they may do so in school settings as well.

There have been only a few national surveys of the availability of sexuality education in Canadian schools (for reviews, see Barrett 1990, 1994), and no detailed national studies of the classroom content of sexuality education that would indicate the extent to which provincial guidelines and curricula are translated into classroom programming. There is, however, enough information from individual provinces to indicate significant advances in sexuality education over the past 15 years fueled to a large extent by emerging concerns about HIV/AIDS, other STDs, and sexual abuse, and also by ongoing concerns about teen pregnancy.

Survey findings throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and into 2002, have consistently shown broad public support for some form of sexuality education in the schools (Langille et al. 1996; Lawlor & Purcell 1989; McKay & Holowaty 1997; McKay, Petrusiak, & Holowaty 1998; Ornstein 1989; Weaver et al. 2001, 2002). As in earlier studies (Verby & Herold 1992), the more recent reports also show support for HIV/AIDS education, which now appears in many curricula in grades 5 and/or 6 (ages 9 to 11). Although it is often difficult for such studies to include detailed assessment of respondents’ opinions about specific content, or their views on the more subtle aspects of philosophy and attitudes that they might wish to see inculcated, Canadians appear to be strongly supportive of the the involvement of schools in sexuality education. Nevertheless, a minority perceives contemporary sex education to be skewed toward liberal, secular attitudes, particularly in the areas of abortion, homosexuality, teen sexuality, and access to contraceptive information and services, and actively promulgates a more restrictive agenda in all of these areas. Although historically this view has been expressed as an opposition to sexuality education in the schools, at present it is more likely to focus on either the specific value positions that schools should adopt, the appropriateness of particular topics (e.g., homosexuality, contraception, and abortion), or the ways in which student behavior should be influenced (e.g., abstinence-only programs).

There are few settings other than schools through which almost all young people can be reached with a planned educational program that addresses the broad range of topics subsumed under the heading of sexuality education. Sexuality education in schools is almost invariably integrated into a broader program of Health Education, Personal and Social Relationships, Family Life Education, Religious and Moral Education, and similar subjects, but this varies between provinces (or even within provinces) and there is, therefore, no standard national curriculum for sexuality education. However, most school curricula are based on a statement of principles and a guiding philosophy that emphasizes self-knowledge, acceptance of individual development, social obligations, personal values, the avoidance of problems (e.g., sexual coercion, teen pregnancy, STDs, etc.), and to a lesser and varied extent, the development of satisfying sexual relationships. Material is presented in a hierarchy based on age appropriateness, with a number of previously excluded or delayed topics now appearing at earlier ages (e.g., AIDS and avoidance of sexual exploitation).

Sex education in schools is evolving in Canada, from first-generation programs that focused primarily on knowledge about reproduction and birth control (on the assumption that students would translate this information into self-protecting behavior), to second-generation programs that included factual information plus skills in communication and relationships (on the assumption that these generic skills would translate as above) (Kirby 1992; Kirby et al. 1994; McKay 1993), to the newly emerging programs that are rooted in conceptual models of behavior change that include knowledge acquisition, development of attitudes and behavioral intentions in support of sexual health, motivational supports, and development of situation-specific skills (see, for example, McKay 2000, 2001; McKay et al. 2001). The Skills for Healthy Relationships program for grade 9 students (aged 13-14) described above is an example of this approach (Warren & King 1994). This gradual transition in Canadian sexuality education (most programs are second-generation type) reflects an increasing desire of educators and public health professionals to design interventions that affect sexual health behavior and outcomes. There is also an emerging interest in applying these concepts to elementary school education (Wackett & Evans 2000), although deciding which behaviors to assess and the willingness of schools to survey younger students on such topics remain largely unmet challenges.

One of the complaints about traditional sex education has been that it does not work, i.e., teen pregnancies and STDs remain high. The problem is that early sex education programs simply anticipated such outcomes, although they were neither designed for nor taught in ways that would achieve these specific behavioral objectives. Students did become more knowledgeable and more insightful about their own and other people’s feelings and behavior—both desirable outcomes—but this type of knowledge-based sex education is not generally expected to have a major impact on behavior (for a review, see Fisher & Fisher 1992, 1998). With the continued concern about AIDS and other STDs, schools are being asked to influence behavior (postponing sexual involvement, encouraging abstinence, increasing condom use and safer sex practices, etc.) and not just to increase knowledge.

While Canada has experienced localized opposition to sex education in the schools, that opposition today, as noted above, is seldom to the school’s involvement in sexuality education, per se, but to the presumed “liberal” values of such programs. Public discourse on this issue has affected curriculum development to varying degrees across Canada and it is against the competing pressures of heightened expectation, anticipated “traditional” opposition, and limited resources, that school-based sexuality education continues to develop. A detailed overview of recommended or required sexuality education content in Canadian elementary and secondary schools is beyond the scope of this chapter (for a review, see Barrett 1994).

Outcomes of School-Based Sexuality Education

The final report on the Skills for Healthy Relationships program (Warren & King 1994) is the largest study ever undertaken in Canada on the long-range outcome of a school-based sexuality education program. As noted above, the program was developed by the Social Program Evaluation Group at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, with collaboration and support from provincial and territorial ministries of education and health, the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, the National Health Research and Development Program, and the Division of HIV/AIDS Epidemiology and Surveillance (Bureau of HIV/AIDS, STD, and TB in the Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Canada). The Skills for Healthy Relationships program provides grade 9 students (ages 13-14) with a carefully structured and theoretically based educational intervention on AIDS, other STDs, and sexuality. It features cooperative learning (small groups), parent/guardian involvement (six interactive activities), active learning (role playing, behavioral rehearsal), peer leaders (in small groups, modeling skills), video instruction, and journaling and development of a personal action plan (assertiveness goal). The skills component is a major feature of the program, and outcome measures, assessed by questionnaires just after students had taken the program and one and two years later, included indicators of change related to these skills (assertiveness, communication with parents, regular condom use if sexually active, etc.). The comparison groups in each of the four provinces in which the program was tested were students who took their school’s regular grade 9 AIDS/STD program.

Two years later, students who took the program said they had been changed by the program in a number of ways: more comfort talking about personal rights with a partner (72%), talking about condoms (67%), ability to refuse or negotiate something I don’t want to do (58% in both cases), more assertive (53%), and always use condoms with my partner (61%) (Warren & King 1994). Compared to the nonparticipant group, participants at the two-year follow-up:

As would be expected, in the period from grade 9 to 11, the proportion of students who had experienced intercourse increased for both sexes in both groups. However, the percentage of both sexes who said they had ever had intercourse was slightly lower in the participant group two years after the program (51% comparison vs. 42% participant for males; 49% comparison vs. 46% participant for females). The students from both groups who were most likely to have unprotected intercourse were those who took risks in areas such as alcohol consumption, use of cannabis, and skipping classes. They were also more likely to be doing poorly in school (Warren & King 1994). These latter observations highlight the important behavioral influence of social and relationship factors that may well be difficult to change through school-based interventions alone.

In Canada, Orton and Rosenblatt’s (1986, 1991, 1993) pioneering research on a multisectoral approach to pregnancy prevention in Ontario showed that rates of adolescent pregnancy declined more rapidly in the late 1970s and early 1980s in those localities that provided young people with both school-based sexuality education and access to clinical services. Orton (1994) points out that the usual practice of reporting only province-wide data for teen pregnancy has tended to obscure the “inequality gap” between individual localities with respect to the decline in teen pregnancies. We have, therefore, been less likely to note the successes in localities that combined prevention programs in both the educational and public health sectors, and also less able, and willing, to recognize and target resources toward those settings that needed special assistance because they were less advantaged for providing such programs (e.g., rural and northern localities). Orton (1994) argues that: “Policies and programs of sexual health have the potential to reduce social inequalities by reducing rates of adolescent pregnancy and STDs, and also by reducing the wide variation in rates between jurisdictions and groups within Canada” (p. 223).

Based on an analysis of policies and programs in education, public health, and social services in Ontario, Orton (1994) argues that “intersectoral collaboration can contribute to greater and more equitable access to sexual health education and services,” but that such collaboration requires “strong policy directives at all three ministries” (p. 222). Her findings in Ontario argue for “the effectiveness of centralized policy direction (public health), and the ineffectiveness of a decentralized approach (education and social services) to achieve equitable access to effective programs” (Orton 1994, 223).

There are numerous examples of the successful implementation of programs meeting Orton’s criteria. The province of Saskatchewan is attempting to strengthen sexual health education. Its planning document, Toward Sexual and Reproductive Health in Saskatchewan, from a province attempting to strengthen sexual health education, shows how a centralized initiative from the Ministry of Health invited multisectoral collaboration in program and policy development (Saskatchewan Health 1993) along the lines that Orton (1994) recommends. Nova Scotia also provides another example of a multiple-component intervention (Langille 2000). Carried out between 1996 and 1999, the Amherst Initiative for Healthy Adolescent Sexuality brought together community groups (including schools), parents, teenagers, healthcare professionals, and interested citizens to promote adolescent sexual health. Comparisons between 1996 and 1999 show important changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior among grade 9 to 12 students at Amherst Regional High School. Of particular note was a decrease of 31% in the age-adjusted pregnancy rate for Amherst women in 1998, compared to 1995 to 1997. Such a finding is encouraging, and certainly in support of a multisectoral approach.

[Update 1999: With a comprehensive compulsory sexuality education program in place in all of the Alberta province’s schools since 1990, a recent survey found that teenagers in Alberta are postponing intercourse for longer than their counterparts in other Canadian provinces, leading some to argue that mandatory sexuality education programs play a role in encouraging teens to delay sexual activity. According to a survey of 82,000 Canadians published in the Calgary Herald, only 8% of females in Alberta ages 15 to 19 said they had sex before age 15, compared to the national average of 13%. Among Calgary’s 15-to-19-year-olds, 7% reported having sex before age 15. Supporters of comprehensive sexuality education attribute these lower rates to a decade of comprehensive compulsory sexuality education in the schools and to easy access to family planning clinics. Calgary’s teen pregnancy rate is among the lowest in Canada and the world. Critics of the program argue that an abstinence-based sexuality education program would drive the figures down even further. Critics also claim that sex education that does not specifically counsel abstinence has always increased teen pregnancy and STD rates (Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report 1999). (End of update by R. T. Francoeur)]

There are a number of issues facing the continued growth and improvement of sexuality education in Canadian schools. For example, the duration, content, and quality of such education varies considerably between schools and within and between provinces, but it is uncertain whether governments will continue to give sexuality education the required priority and resources. Canadian schools face increasing financial and staffing constraints and there is a growing demand to focus more on basic areas like language skills, science, computer technology, and so on, which may lead, by default or design, to either a lower priority for sexuality education or to a more limited, problem-centered focus on selected topics. Given the various sexual ideologies, religious traditions, and ethnocultural backgrounds within the Canadian population, it has been difficult to find a broad public consensus on how to deal with controversial issues in schools (teen sexuality, homosexuality, etc.). The past climate of cautiousness and conflict on such issues still continues to impede implementation of high-quality sexuality education programs in many areas. The goal identified in the Canadian Guidelines for Sexual Health Education, i.e., universal access to a broadly based, comprehensive, and integrated approach to sexual health education, suggests high national expectations and intentions, but uncertain resources and competing priorities are part of the reality facing attempts to fully implement such a program.

Sexuality Education and Related Services Through
Public Health Units and Other Such Agencies

Provincial and Territorial Public Health Units play a major role in sexual health education and related services in Canada, and they are often in the forefront of community sexual health education campaigns. For example, the Program Requirements and Standards section of Ontario’s Mandatory Health Programs and Services Guidelines (Ontario Ministry of Health 1989) lists four pages of expectations and program standards for sexual health and STDs. Boards of health and public health nurses are the front-line staff involved in addressing these issues with clients of all ages and socioeconomic status. The demands on this growing bureaucracy have increased in recent years in response to changing patterns of sexual behavior among youth, increasing ethnocultural diversity and immigrant populations in cities, population aging, AIDS, concerns about sexual abuse prevention for all ages, and other such issues. In the face of growing demand and limited resources, provision of service is varied across Ontario (this is probably true for all provinces) and, for the same reasons, the additional mandate to do community needs assessments and outcome evaluations of sexual health programs is also difficult to sustain.

A variety of nongovernmental agencies are also involved in sexuality education and related services. The Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN), founded in 1964, maintains a resource library and information service, publishes the Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality and the SIECCAN Newsletter, provides consultation services and professional education workshops, and facilitates development of new resources, such as the Being Sexual series (Ludwig & Hingsburger 1993), After You Tell (Ludwig 1995), and the previously described National Guidelines for Sexual Health Education. The Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada (PPFC) has a long history of advocacy, education, and resource distribution on contraception and sexuality. PPFC administers the Sex Education and Research Clearinghouse (SEARCH), a national center for distribution and development of sexuality education resource materials. Local Planned Parenthood offices now provide sexual health education and services and some, such as The House, in Toronto, administer adolescent health centers that are equipped to address a broader range of health issues than contraception and pregnancy counseling. The Canadian AIDS Society and local AIDS committees and organizations do educational outreach that includes some aspects of sexuality education, as do other groups with particular concerns about sexuality, such as the Disabled Women’s Network and the British Columbia Coalition on AIDS and Disability. The Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Association of School Health, the Canadian Infectious Diseases Society, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada, and a number of other nongovernmental organizations contribute at the national level to public sexuality education.

B. Informal Sources of Sexual Knowledge

Despite the growing role of schools and public health authorities in public education about such topics as contraception, STDs, and HIV/AIDS prevention, informal sources (peers, family, and the media) are probably the primary influence on sexual attitudes and knowledge. Adolescents have been the focus of most research in this area.

For example, when asked to list their main sources of AIDS information, grade 11 students (N = 9,617) surveyed in the Canada Youth and AIDS Study ranked television first, followed, respectively, by print materials, school, family, friends, and doctors/nurses (King et al. 1988). The first three rankings were the same for grade 7 (N = 9,925) and grade 9 (N = 9,860) students. Although these informal sources were identified as the main source of AIDS information for Canadian youth, a majority of the young people surveyed said they would have preferred a more formal source of information, such as doctors or nurses. A more recent study in Ontario found that school was the main and preferred source of health information (McKay & Holowaty 1997).

Ornstein’s (1989) study of AIDS-related knowledge, behavior, and attitudes of Canadian adults (N = 1,259) found that, similar to the students in King et al.’s study, television (39%) and newspapers (23%) led the list of respondents’ self-identified “main sources of information about AIDS.” Magazines were identified by 9% and health authorities (e.g., physicians, nurses, hospitals, and clinics) by only 2.5%. Although not asked to self-identify their sources of information, one study of British Columbia youth (McCreary Centre Society 1993) indicates that 84% of participants were taught about AIDS in school and 72% knew how or where to get information. This trend was seen to increase with grade level. As well, 50% had talked with their parents about AIDS.

In the survey phase of the Ethnocultural Communities Facing AIDS study, conducted in English-speaking Caribbean, Latin American, and South Asian communities (only men from the South Asian communities participated in the survey), the rank ordering of where respondents preferred to get information about HIV/AIDS was identical in all three communities and to both of the two earlier studies (Maticka-Tyndale et al. 1995). Ornstein’s (1989) conclusion that “in the main, Canadians rely on the mass media rather than more specialized publications to learn about AIDS” (p. 52), clearly applies regardless of age and probably also regardless of ethnocultural background. Although no more recent studies have been done, this is likely still the case.

While various forms of media, particularly television, have been Canadians’ main source of information about AIDS, the picture changes somewhat when sources of information on sexuality in general are examined. Again, informal sources of information predominate. However, with sexuality in general, as opposed to AIDS, peers and family become the most commonly cited sources of information. The World Wide Web and other computer-assisted information systems are having a growing impact on students’ access to sexuality-related content, but the potential of this medium as a formal resource for sexuality education (see Humphreys et al. 1996) has yet to be exploited.

When King et al. (1988) asked a national sample of students about their main sources of information about sex, grade 7 (aged 11-12) and grade 9 (aged 13-14) students ranked family first out of six possible sources of sex information. Though friends were ranked fifth by grade 7 students, they rose to third for grade 9 students, and first for grade 11 students. The latter group ranked family a close second. Friends remained first for college/university students, with family dropping to third place, replaced by print materials in second. Interestingly, school dropouts ranked previous schooling first, friends second, and family third as their main sources of sex information. In a comparable study of Newfoundland students done in 1991, Cregheur et al. (1992) found that grade 11 students (aged 16-17) ranked friends first as their main source of information about sex, followed by school, television, family, and print materials. Interestingly, compared to the King et al. (1988) national sample, grade 11 students in the Cregheur et al. study (1992) were less likely to cite friends, family, television, and print materials as their main sources of information about sex, and more likely to cite school.

The role of peers and parents as important informal sources of information and support is evident from the results of three studies. King et al.’s (1988) study of Canadian teens found that, overall, teens agreed that they talked with their close friends about sex (increasing from 56% in grade 7 to 75% in grade 11), that people of the opposite sex like them (51% in grade 7, 73% in grade 11), and that they discuss their problems with their friends (62 to 71%). Among grade 9 students questioned in a 1992 evaluation of the “Skills for Healthy Relationships” program (see Warren & King 1994), 59% of females and 38% of males agreed that “I can talk to my mother about sexual matters” (26% of females and 41% of males agreed that they could talk to their fathers about sexual matters). Finally, Herold’s (1984) study of young women visiting a birth control clinic found that two thirds of the women had received birth control information from girlfriends, about half from schools or reading materials, 25% from their mothers, and 2% from their fathers. The importance of peers is highlighted in Herold’s (1984) conclusion that

peers provide teenage girls with information, legitimization and support. Girlfriends are the most important source of information about birth control, and teenage girls who are socially isolated in the sense of having few friends often delay getting birth control because they lack peer support. (p. 105)

The impact of informal sources of learning on sexual values is a much-discussed issue in Canada. In a study of values and sex education in Montreal-area English-language high schools, Lawlor and Purcell (1988) surveyed 667 grade 9 and grade 11 students about a variety of topics related to sex education. Asked where they learned their moral values related to sexuality, the students again ranked peers at the top. Friends away from school were ranked first, followed, respectively, by classmates, home, television and movies, books and magazines, in school from teachers, in school from religious teaching, and rock/pop music and lyrics. It is noteworthy that these students ranked rock/pop music and lyrics last out of a possible eight sources of sexual values, since there has been increasing speculation in the Canadian media that popular music and rock videos may have a negative impact on the sexual attitudes of young people. For the eight sources for learning sexual values, the most pronounced gender difference was for the item “in the home,” which was ranked third by grade 9 girls and second for grade 11 girls, but fifth by both grade 9 and grade 11 boys.

While public policy and sex education literature generally acknowledge the important role that parents play in the sexual development of children, there has been surprisingly little research on the direct communication of sexual knowledge from parents to their children. In a study of 200 Canadian university women (Herold & Way 1983), subjects reported which sexual topics they had discussed with their parents. Eighty percent had talked about attitudes towards premarital sex with their mothers, 55% with their fathers; 70% had discussed contraception with their mothers, 29% with their fathers; 15% had discussed oral sex or masturbation with their mothers, 2% with their fathers; and 9% had talked about sexual techniques with their mothers, less than 1% with their fathers.

Several general observations can be made based on these studies. First, family, peers, and media form a triad of influence and education with respect to issues related to the sexuality of young Canadians. In general, there is a developmental shift that occurs in the relative place of family, peers, and media sources during adolescence. Between about grade 9 (13 to 15 years of age) and grade 11 (16 to 17 years of age), peer influence rises to top rank, and that of family decreases in importance, in some cases even outranked by the more impersonal media (e.g., print materials). In addition, at least for university women, mothers in particular have been a potential source of information and influence in matters of sexuality. The foregoing results support Bibby and Posterski’s (1992) observation that the apparent changes in attitudes and conduct are not individual changes, but a “coming of age” of a new generation of Canadians—the children of the “sexual revolution” generation—who are forming their own reference groups of information and influence.

4. Autoerotic Behaviors and Patterns

In the insufficiently heated bedroom on the northwest corner of the house in Park Place, I was taken by surprise by the first intimations of a pleasure that I did not at first know how to elicit from or return to the body that gave rise to it, which was my own. It had no images connected with it, and no object but pure physical sensation. It was as if I had found a way of singing that did not come from my throat.
        —A man’s recollection from his boyhood in So Long, See You Tomorrow, William Maxwell             (1980)

In the early 1900s, the first sex education classes in Ontario schools taught young boys about the dangers of masturbation. Students were told that seminal fluid contained a vital force that nourished the brain and muscles, and that wasting it through any sexual excess, but particularly through masturbation, was physically and mentally depleting to the individual. Furthermore, students were also told that a man could pass this depleted condition on to his offspring. These dual beliefs in vitalist physiology and in the inheritance of acquired characteristics provided the “secular” rationale for prohibitions that were already part of the religious teachings of the time. Canada’s long-abandoned eugenic sterilization law of 1902 had its origins in the period when such teaching became popular (for review, see Bliss 1970). Sex education at that time was generally silent on female masturbation—often ignoring its very possibility—but when it was mentioned, the dire consequences for reproductive health and mental stability were strongly emphasized. Mothers were told to be watchful lest their children fall into the habit that, they were warned, was notoriously difficult to break.

Over 90 years later, masturbation has gone from being a sin to a normal part of sexual development in children and a healthy aspect of sexual expression in adults. This general impression would have to be documented from qualitative sources, since we have been unable to locate any published national data on masturbation frequency in any age group. Survey results cited in Section 1C, Basic Sexological Premises, General Concepts and Constructs of Sexuality, indicate that a majority of Canadians adults view it as a healthy expression, although a sizable minority either disagreed (30%) or strongly disagreed (5%) with this view. Sex education literature almost invariably refers to masturbation as normal, and recommendations for parents usually pertain to the importance of privacy and of not instilling guilt. Sexuality education for children and young adults with developmental disabilities places particular emphasis on teaching in this area because public masturbation, even when it arises through lack of social skills, can lead to embarrassment, restriction of social opportunities by caregivers, or exploitation by others. The Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN) publishes and distributes a 17-booklet sexuality education series for people with developmental disabilities—Being Sexual: An Illustrated Series on Sexuality and Relationships—that includes clearly illustrated, detailed, sex-positive information about female masturbation (Ludwig & Hingsburger 1993) and male masturbation (Hingsburger & Ludwig 1993). The series is designed for people who have problems with language, learning, or communication, and all books are translated into Blissymbols, making the series the only resource of its kind in the world. Blissymbolics, a symbolic language developed by C. K. Bliss and described in Semantography, published in 1949, was intended to be a means of communication across all language groups. It is now used by people with disabilities, and others, to facilitate expressive speech. The Canadian organization responsible for this work is Blissymbolics Communication International.

One paper on childhood masturbation written by Canadian authors relies on U.S. statistics for occurrence and incidence data to suggest that 90 to 94% of males and 50 to 60% of females have masturbated during their lifetime, that the highest incidence is among 16- to 20-year-olds (86% masturbate; the frequency is higher in males than females), and that masturbation declines with age in men but increases toward middle age in women (Leung & Robson 1993). While some religious groups consider masturbation to be sinful or an unacceptable indulgence, the common reaction in Canada appears to range from benign acceptance (and little discussion) to enthusiastic approval, reflective of the general shift toward a larger proportion of the population’s acceptance and endorsement of various forms of sexual expression.

5. Interpersonal Heterosexual Behaviors

A. Children

There have been no national studies on the sexual behavior or sex-role rehearsal play of Canadian children. While it seems likely that sexual curiosity and exploratory play would follow patterns similar to those described by U.S. researchers (see Martinson 1994), we do not know of any studies that would provide empirical support for this conjecture in Canada.

B. Adolescents

It is important to place the sexual behavior of Canadian adolescents as a group within the context of prevailing social, political, and economic conditions and of other individual variables, such as their personal characteristics and relationships, their attitudes toward sexuality, and their increasing exposure to sexual images and information through television, films, and magazines. Although it is misleading to generalize about such a diverse group, the findings of two national studies with large samples described earlier offer important background insights against which to assess more-recent reports on adolescent sexual health in Canada. The Canada Youth and AIDS Study (Social Program Evaluation Group, Queen’s University, King et al. 1988) is the only large-scale national study of both the attitudes and sexual behavior of Canadian adolescents and young adults. The sample included approximately 19,500 grade 9 and 11 students, 14 to 17 years of age. “Project Teen Canada” 1992, which replicated a national survey of 15- to 19-year-olds conducted in 1984, had a sample of 3,600 15- to 19-year-olds and investigated attitudes and beliefs (not behavior) about a range of topics, including sexuality (Bibby & Posterski 1992). More recently, national data assembled by the Canadian team for the Alan Guttmacher Institute’s international comparative study of adolescent sexual health in developed countries (France, England, Sweden, Canada, United States) (Darroch, Frost, Singh, et al. 2001) have provided a 1990s overview of selected aspects of the sexual health of Canadian adolescents (Maticka-Tyndale, Barrett, & McKay 2000; Maticka-Tyndale, McKay, & Barrett 2001; Singh, Darroch, Frost, et al. 2001; Darroch, Singh, Frost, et al. 2001; Maticka-Tyndale 2001). These varied sources, and others, are used below as a starting point to examine the sexual attitudes and behavior of Canadian adolescents.

Sexuality and Self-Esteem

Self-concept refers to the way individuals describe their abilities, personalities, and relationships, whereas self-esteem refers to the value placed on these personal characteristics (King et al. 1988). Research has repeatedly demonstrated strong associations between self-concept, self-esteem, and sexual conduct, particularly for adolescents. These are, therefore, important concepts to consider in this section on adolescent sexual conduct. In King et al.’s national study, while Canadian teens generally agreed that they had confidence in themselves (88 to 90% of grade 7, 9, and 11 males, 81 to 87% females) (King et al. 1988), ambivalence is reflected in a variety of areas, particularly for young women. Between 51% and 53% of grade 7, 9, and 11 females reported that they would “change how I look if I could” (vs. 37 to 38% for males); 37% of grade 7 females and 51% and 54% of grade 9 and 11 females agreed with the statement, “I need to lose weight” (vs. 21 to 24% for males); and 32 to 41% of females agreed that “I often feel depressed” (vs. 27 to 30% for males). At the same time, 84 to 89% said, “I have a lot of friends,” 81 to 84% said “I am a happy person,” and 71 to 74% said, “The future looks good to me.”

Similar findings on self-esteem of Canadian 11- to 15-year-olds are reported in The Health of Canada’s Youth (King & Coles 1992), part of an international collaborative study designed to collect comparative health-related information on young people in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, and Wales. In the section on social adjustment, King and Coles (1992) observe that, “compared with young people from European countries, young Canadians are experiencing more strain in their relationships with their parents and even with each other” (p. 96). Yet Canadian students were more likely than those in most other participating countries to find it easy to talk to friends of either sex about things that really bother them. This concurrence of positive self-regard on the one hand, and anxiety or dissatisfaction with specific areas of their lives on the other, has also been noted in other studies of slightly older Canadian youth as well.

For example, Bibby and Posterski (1992) also noted the generally high self-esteem of teens (e.g., 82% of females and 90% of males agreed that the statement, “I can do most things well,” described them either very well or fairly well). However, these adolescents had concerns about a number of areas, including achievement in school (this was an issue for both sexes) and personal safety (a major concern for females). About three times as many females as males (56% vs. 20%) agreed that there was an area “within a mile (or kilometer) of your home where you would be afraid to walk at night.” About 95% of both young women and men plan to have careers, but there appears to be a continuing gender gap in areas that may have an impact on sexual and gender relationships. For example, females were more likely than males to rate certain values as “very important” (concern for others, 75% vs. 48%; forgiveness, 71% vs. 45%, and honesty, 82% vs. 56%) (Bibby & Posterski 1992).

Though these studies support the general contention that Canadian adolescents have a relatively positive self-concept and high self-esteem, they also demonstrate clear and important gender differences. Young women express specific concerns about appearance and safety, and focus greater attention on values that relate to relationships than those of individual achievement or success. Considerably fewer young men, on the other hand, show concern for appearance or focus attention on relationship values and, by and large, they seem unconcerned about personal safety. These characteristics are of particular importance when considering their potential influence on relationships between young men and women and the ability of each to realize the expectations they have set for their futures.

Attitudes Toward Sexuality and Relationships

Attitudes toward sexual intercourse before marriage (i.e., “premarital sex”) have been widely used as an indicator of sexual permissiveness. In King et al.’s study (1988), among grade 11 students (ages 15 to 17), 13% said unmarried people should not have sex and 76% said it is all right for people to have sex before marriage if they are in love (74% female, 78% male) (agreement combines the “strongly agree” and “agree” categories on a five-point Likert scale) (King et al. 1988). More recently, Maclean’s (2001) reported findings based on R. Bibby’s book, Canada’s Teens: Today, Yesterday and Tomorrow, that 82% of Canadian teens believe that love is an acceptable reason for sex before marriage, while 58% feel that liking someone is sufficient.

In their slightly older sample in 1992, Bibby and Posterski found that: 86% of females and 88% of males agreed with sex before marriage for people in love (the value was 93% for both sexes in Quebec); 51% of females and 77% of males agreed with sex before marriage when the people involved liked each other (81% and 91%, respectively, in Quebec); 40% of females and 73% of males agreed that sexual relations were OK within a few dates (60% and 82%, respectively, in Quebec); and 5% of females and 20% of males agreed with sexual relations on a first date if people like each other (9% and 23%, respectively, in Quebec). A study of attitudes toward use of power in sexual relations among college students in Quebec (Samson et al. 1996) found that the majority of students refused to see the expression of sexuality as a locus of power, but viewed it more in the context of shared affection and pleasure.

The tendency toward increasing permissiveness with greater levels of affection is a longstanding North American tradition among young people and adults. In fact, Widmer, Treas, and Newcomb (1998), in an international comparison of attitudes toward nonmarital sex, found that a full 69% of Canadians felt premarital sex was “not at all wrong,” with an additional 15% feeling it is “only sometimes” wrong. Similar findings were reported by Bibby (1995), with respondents endorsing “not at all wrong” 57% of the time and “sometimes wrong” 23% of the time. The greater levels of approval among Quebec students may be characteristic of the more sex-accepting attitude of Quebec society in general, and particularly of the francophone segment of the population. In contrast to their attitudes toward premarital sex, only 9% of young people in Bibby and Posterski’s (1992) total teen sample approved of extramarital sex (12% vs. 9% for francophone and anglophone Quebec teens), with this figure falling to less than 5% for Catholic teens who attended church two to three times per month.

Bibby and Posterski (1992) found that 87% of teens outside of Quebec approved of unmarried people living together (95% among francophone Québécois and over 80% among Catholic students in Quebec). Among teens outside of Quebec, 65% approved of people having children without being married (88% among francophone Québécois).

In the areas of homosexuality and gay rights, teens were more likely to support social justice and rights for the gay population (68% approval overall outside of Quebec, 83% in Quebec) than to approve of homosexual relations (33% approval outside of Quebec, 55% among francophone Québécois). King et al. (1988) found a sizable percentage of grade 7, 9, and 11 students agreeing that “homosexuality is wrong” (45%, 42%, 38%, respectively) and a surprisingly small percentage agreeing that they would feel comfortable talking with a homosexual person (18%, 22%, and 29%, respectively). With increasing discussion of gay rights and homosexuality in the media, we might expect these numbers to change, although there remains a dichotomy between many young people’s acceptance of gay rights and their acceptance of homosexuality. Since students with the lowest tolerance for people with AIDS also had the most negative attitudes toward homosexuality, and vice versa (King et al. 1988), the widespread mandating of HIV/AIDS education in Canadian schools in recent years may well have led to greater compassion for people with AIDS and less stigmatizing of gay people because of their presumed association with AIDS. Indeed, a 1992 study (Warren & King 1994) of over 2,000 grade 9 students from four provinces who received an educational program about sexuality and AIDS (“Skills for Healthy Relationships”) found that 23% considered homosexuality to be wrong (vs. 42% in the 1988 national sample) and 60% felt that “homosexuals should be allowed to be teachers” (vs. 39% in the 1988 study).

In fact, in a report on more recent work by R. Bibby, Maclean’s (2001) revealed that while in the 1980s, only 26% of teens approved of same-sex relationships, a full 54% of young people now support same-sex relationships, with 75% believing that homosexuals should be entitled to the same rights as anyone else. In a slightly older sample, a study by Canadian Press/Leger Marketing (2001) shows that among 18- to 24-year-olds, 89% believe in equal rights for gays and lesbians, 81% support same-sex marriage, and 73% endorse adoption by same-sex parents. Taken together, these results suggest a growing tolerance among teens and young adults.

This background information on sexual attitudes and self-esteem provides a context for discussing the specific sexual behaviors of Canadian adolescents.

Sexual Behavior of Adolescents

The 1970s and 1980s saw gradual changes in sexual behavior of Canadian young people consistent with the “sexual revolution” in attitudes that began in the 1960s. University students were the common research sample for many of the past studies on sexual behavior of youth, because parents and school boards were generally disinclined to give approval for questions on the specifics of sexual behavior in surveys of younger teens. Although similarly restricted on some topics (e.g., questions about oral sex and anal sex were asked only of college/university students, school dropouts, and “street youth”), the Canada Youth and AIDS Study provided evidence that “young people are more sexually active than adults may realize.” For example, 31% of grade 9 males (14 to 15 years old) and 21% of females reported at least one instance of sexual intercourse. For grade 11 students (16 to 17 years old), the figures were 49% and 46% respectively. For comparison, the values for first-year college/university students (19 to 20 years old) were 77% of males and 73% of females. Hence, a sizable majority of Canadian teens have had at least one experience of vaginal intercourse by the time they are 19. In data culled from the National Population Health Survey in 1996-1997, Maticka-Tyndale, McKay, and Barrett (2001) state that over 70% of youth then age 20-24 had experienced first intercourse before the age of 20. These and other findings are part of a linear shift downward for both men and women in terms of age of first intercourse, a shift that has been more drastic for women who are now catching up to men.

Over half of younger teens have engaged in some form of sex play. For example, about 74% of grade 11 students (75% of the males; 73% of the females) and over half of grade 9 students (61% of the males; 53% of the females) have experienced “petting below the waist” (King et al. 1988). Among the reasons offered for their first experience of sexual intercourse, 19-year-olds in the 1988 sample reported love (48% of the females; 24% of the males), physical attraction (8% of the females; 25% of the males), curiosity (16% of the females; 12% of the males), passion (8% of the females; 11% of the males), and drug and/or alcohol use (6% for both sexes). King, Coles, and King (1990) found that about 2% of both male and female 19-year-olds identified themselves as either homosexual or bisexual, but the details of their self-identification and behavior were not obtained.

In a late 1980s study of Quebec grade 11 high school students (N = 1,231, average age, 17 years), Otis et al. (1990) found that French- and English-speaking boys did not differ in the proportion who had experienced intercourse (62.4% vs. 54.1%), in number of partners among those with such experience (3.4 vs. 4.1), or in likelihood of condom use (46.9% vs. 48.8%). English-speaking male high school students were less likely than their francophone counterparts to report that a partner was using the birth control pill to prevent conception (33.7% vs. 48.8%). Among francophone vers