The numbers vary a lot with sources and countries, but a rather safe bet is that around half of people in Western Europe and the USA will have at least one one-night stand. In some countries maybe as many as 7 out of These are the results of a previous American study.
Kennair and Associate Professor Mons Bendixen wanted to see whether this is also true in Norway, which is supposedly a more sexually liberal and egalitarian country. They also wanted to try and find out why the results varied so much by gender. The Norwegian researchers collaborated with evolutionary psychologist David Buss of the University of Texas at Austin.
A larger proportion of women than men regretted the last time they had casual sex. Around 35 per cent of women and only 20 per cent of men regretted the experience to some degree. But it is far more common for women to regret saying yes. They are also less unequivocally happy about the experience.
About 30 per cent of women in Norway were happy about their most recent casual sex experience, as were over 50 per cent of the men, according to Bendixen. Only men regret saying no. At the same time, nearly 80 per cent of women were happy that they said no to casual sex last time.
Only 43 per cent of men were totally happy that they passed it up. But that's not the biggest difference. Very few women regretted saying no. But nearly 30 per cent of the men regretted not having casual sex, according to Bendixen. Several possible explanations. Women worry more than men generally, and they worry about more than just casual sex. As Kennair sums it up, men do stupid things that they die from.
