The pandemic has drastically changed the sex lives of young adults, report says

More than two years into the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that the sex lives of young adult Canadians have changed, says advocacy group LetsStopAIDS. A new study of Canadians aged 18 to 24 suggests the pandemic has robbed them of formative sexual experiences, but has allowed them to learn more about themselves and “re-emerge more sexually adventurous.”

This has major implications for how Canada should approach testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs), the group says. The LetsStopAIDS Sex Lives Report was released at the AIDS 2022 conference in Montreal, which ended this week.

The data revealed that young Canadians are more likely to explore dating online, with LetsStopAIDS reporting a 64 percent increase in interest in meeting sexual and romantic partners over the course of the pandemic. 

Thirty-three percent of respondents said the pandemic has made them more sexually adventurous and 34 percent of respondents saying they are more likely to have sex on a first date.

“Some people shared that the pandemic gave them time and space to reflect on themselves, discovering new things about their sexuality and sexual orientation,” Shamin Mohamed Jr., founder and president, LetsStopAIDS, told Xtra. 

“People had to adapt to an online life, which meant learning to have intimate relationships virtually. Many shared that they had longer and deeper conversations on online dating apps compared to pre-pandemic, and many reported sending more nudes and sexting, and engaging in phone and cyber sex.”

Unsurprisingly, with an increase in online dating and online intimacy, young Canadians also reported an increase in sharing nude pictures and exploring different genres of porn. 

These changes in behaviour highlight risks that public health officials should be keeping track of and responding to. The report revealed areas where groups such as health providers or community outreach offices should adapt to better serve Canadians and provide the resources needed to help stop the spread of HIV and other STBBIs.

One of the biggest findings from the survey, for example, was that the number of Canadian young adults who reported not using condoms doubled in the last three months compared to the same cohort’s pre-pandemic rate.

“The number of Canadian young adults who reported not using condoms doubled in the last three months compared to the same cohort’s pre-pandemic rate.”

Mohamed said a number of factors have led to this increase, including the general effectiveness toward lowering HIV rates. When those rates go down, people feel less of a need to use condoms. However, the pandemic has upended STBBI prevention in Canada, as rates have soared in recent years, showing young adults not being the only demographic affected.

When people have multiple partners, they tend to be more likely to use condoms. Because of lockdowns and social distancing, people had fewer partners during the pandemic, Mohamed says, which may also have contributed to lower rates of condom use. 

But as lockdowns have lifted and youth are perhaps trying to make up for lost time, Mohamed added, forgoing condoms puts them at greater risk for STBBI outbreaks. 

Another key finding from the report was that 28 percent of young adults in Canada who had contracted STBBIs did not seek treatment. 

Unfortunately, there remains a stigma surrounding STBBIs in mainstream public health, which is a barrier for those seeking to get tested. This stigma has increased along with the COVID-19 pandemic, and hesitation continues to grow even as the spread of monkeypox continues primarily among men who have sex with men. (While monkeypox is currently spreading largely among MSM in a sexual context, the virus is not an STBBI, and can be transmitted other ways.)

When it comes to stopping the spread of HIV among youth specifically, researchers identified a major barrier: the lack of knowledge in this key youth demographic about PrEP and other prevention methods. Only 26 percent of those surveyed reported knowing what PrEP is, and that number dropped to 20 percent for PEP and only 11 percent for U=U.

PrEP is an antiviral drug taken daily, which can reduce the chances of contracting HIV by up to 99 percent. PEP is an antiviral that can be taken within 72 hours of a possible exposure to HIV to drastically reduce the chance of contracting the virus. U=U stands for undetectable equals untransmittable, and is a campaign to educate the public that those with undetectable levels of HIV—which can be achieved when HIV medication is taken as directed—cannot transmit the disease through sex. 

While some of these trends may be worrying for public health officials, Mohamed says they offer an opportunity for change to help broaden accessibility to care and treatments across Canada.

Condoms and HIV prevention methods, such as PrEP, PEP and U=U, need to become “readily available” for all Canadians, he says. If they’re made accessible to people at a younger age, their use can be normalized. 

Thanks to public health testing and tracing strategies implemented for COVID-19, there is also an opportunity to implement similar methods for HIV and STBBI testing. Normalizing regular testing can help stop outbreaks earlier, and make the process less intimidating for those who engage in regular intercourse. Bringing testing at a smaller scale and into homes would be key to encourage mass adoption,” Mohamed says. “Few people know that HIV self-testing kits exist. In many countries with high rates of new infections, public policies have encouraged the high distribution of self-testing kits.”

“We should also be ensuring the widespread distribution of HIV self-testing kits in Canada and formulating strategies to make them accessible.” 

This week, the Canadian government announced it would be dedicating $8 million to the purchase of HIV home test kits. 

Accessibility will have to be paired with a reduction in stigma, Mohamed says, since the association of getting an STBBI has once again been linked with irresponsibility because of messaging from the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We need to generalize and encourage the idea of comprehensive testing with zero questions.”