By Suzanne BlakeShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberGen Z women are more open to casual sex than Gen Z men, according to a new report from the Survey Center on American Life.
Younger adults who participated in the survey, but especially young women, were more likely to view abortion, casual sex, and open relationships as morally permissible.
Why It Matters
Casual sex has often been labeled as a con in today’s dating culture, especially for women navigating dating apps.
However, the new data reveals that young, or Gen Z women, particularly may actually be more in favor of sex without commitment than their male counterparts.
...What To Know
While 56 percent of all Americans surveyed said having a sexual relationship with someone you do not know well is morally wrong, young adults were significantly more likely to be more lax on the subject.
About half (51 percent) of young women surveyed believe that sex between people who do not know each other well is morally wrong, but 57 percent of young men said the same.
Young women were also the least likely to condemn open relationships, with only 46 percent of young women saying that being in an open sexual relationship is morally wrong most or all of the time. In contrast, 57 percent of young men said this was morally wrong at least most of the time.
That’s an 11 percent gender gap that reflects a broader cultural shift, according to Alexandra Cromer, a licensed therapist with Thriveworks.
“Overall, Gen Z men are tending to trend more conservative politically and embracing similar worldviews and customs, whereas we see Gen Z women voting more frequently for Democratic candidates and embracing overall ‘liberal’ policies,” Cromer told Newsweek.
“This split can be due to many factors, one being the rise in access to the internet and thus expanding knowledge. Feminist theory posits that women who have access to knowledge and can receive an education tend to break from normative thinking patterns (such that casual sex is ‘bad’) and make their own opinions and assumptions about things based on their experiences and worldviews.”
The Survey Center on American Life report was based on responses from 5,451 adults collected between July 25 and August 1, 2025. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.59 percentage points.
What People Are Saying
Alexandra Cromer, a licensed therapist with Thriveworks, told Newsweek: “When you're exposed to many diverse perspectives, you tend to engage in more flexible thinking patterns. Describing something as ‘wrong’ or ‘bad’ tends to fall into more of a rigid categorical thinking narrative. Further, being exposed to other traditions and cultures that are outside of your ‘norm’ help you gain a more accurate worldview and understand the complexities of any ‘moral situation.' Feminist theory and education can also be attributed as a catalyst for independent thinking and women viewing sex as morally permissible; women are being educated at higher rates on bodily autonomy and that their body is theirs to use and choose how to interact with it.”
What Happens Next
“Society is shifting towards more diverse perspectives and focuses on individual power and autonomy, potential larger implications from this study,” Cromer said. “When everyone is treated equitably and equipped with the knowledge to make their own decisions, you'll see diversity in worldviews and views of morality.”
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