Casual sex is good for your mental health

Always stay true to your inner skank. That is the moral of a new study by sex researcher Zhana Vrangalova, who has revealed that people who engage in casual hookups experience “less distress and high thriving following sex,” which is “amplified” by feeling unrestricted by your sexual partners and the pride of making authentic, unapologetic sexual choices.

In social science, the personality trait that measures degrees of interest in casual sex is termed “sociosexuality.”

According to the study, “Sociosexual orientation is a relatively stable tendency toward or away from casual sex, determined by a combination of heritable factors, sociocultural learning, and past experiences, and reflected in three key components: motivation for, attitudes toward, and past experience with casual sex.”

Researchers surveyed 371 college students about their sociosexuality by asking about their sexual behaviour over a nine-month period.

The study concluded, “Typically, sociosexually unrestricted individuals reported lower distress and high thriving following casual sex, suggesting that high sociosexuality may both buffer against any potentially harmful consequences of casual sex and allow access to its potential benefits.”

“The vast majority of unrestricted people desire, enjoy and form relationships,” Vrangalova says. “They just also enjoy and desire casual sex.”

Keep Reading

You can get Mpox even if you’re vaccinated—it happened to me

Having the virus taught me Canada needs to do more to support people who get Mpox

How to survive the apocalypse (again)

Wherever there is a history of homophobia and transphobia, we also find a history of our people celebrating community, mutual care and joy
A hand putting a ballot with a question mark on it into a ballot box. The background is stars from a U.S. flag; below are trans flag coloured diagonal stripes.

The 2024 election is taking a toll on trans mental health. Here’s how to keep it together

ANALYSIS: Telling trans people to “just vote” isn’t helpful 

Busting the myths around transition regret and detransition

How many people regret their decision to receive gender-affirming care? Do people who detransition always regret their transitions?