Who are you?

The older they get, the more Xtra readers fool around.

That’s one of the many portraits painted by Xtra’s recent readership survey. And many of the statistics bust a few myths.

Readers are just as likely to be single as to be coupled up.

Thirty-seven percent are in a long-term, monogamous relationship. And younger people are more likely to have that kind of arrangement.

“We were surprised to find out that our younger readers, 35 years and less, were more likely to be involved in a long-term monogamous relationship,” says the press bumf prepared by Xtra’s Marketing Department.

“The trend of more younger readers in long-term relationships may speak to the fact that people are coming out at a younger age these days. Perhaps because they’re coming out earlier, they’re also more comfortable about getting involved in a serious relationship compared to our older readers who had a harder time coming out.”

On the other hand, 23-year-old US author Wendy Shalit’s new book, A Return To Modesty: Discovering The Lost Virtue, promotes sexual modesty as the new in thing for North American youth.

And that’s backed up – in the US, at least – by the latest results of an annual poll of college frosh. It finds record low support for casual sex among the 1998 entering class (the sample, of course, is likely majority heterosexual). Pundits call it a reaction to the freer lifestyles of the last generation.

Forty-three percent of younger Xtra readers are monogamous; as opposed to 30 percent of those over 45.

Fifteen percent of all Xtra readers are in a long-term, open relationship. Of those, only 10 percent are women.

The numbers for those in casual relationships are about the same for both men and women -nine and 12 percent, respectively.

The Angus Reid poll was conducted in November in the three Xtra newspapers published in Canada – Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver. One thousand of the returned surveys were randomly selected and analyzed.

And while many of us rake in the dough and are set for retirement, some of us have a ways to go before we’re financially secure – if we ever are. In Hogtown:

¥ Sixty-one percent rent – and 84 percent of those who rent have a household income of below $39k

¥ Fifteen percent of Xtra readers make less than $20,000 a year

¥ One quarter make $40 to $60k; another quarter make more than $60k.

Some more numbers about our Toronto readers:

¥ Fifteen percent of respondents are women; one percent are transgendered; the rest are male

¥ Ninety-one percent are gay or lesbian; six percent are bisexual; the rest are straight

¥ Ten percent have at least one child – and parents are as likely to be men as they are women

¥ Zero are fire fighters or law enforcement officers; zero percent are social workers; one percent are homemakers; one percent are disabled; one percent are unemployed; three percent are artists; six percent are retired; 13 percent are in the service industry; 19 percent are “professionals” of some sort

¥ Sixty-seven percent have a college diploma or university degree (25 percent have graduate degrees)

¥ Two percent have some high school only

¥ One percent are under 19; 16 percent are in their 20s; 48 percent are between 30 and 44; 34 percent are 45 to 64 years old; only two percent are over 65.

And allow us just a moment to brag. About 80 percent call Xtra’s news and entertainment coverage good to excellent.