As you note ... this really has no credibility whatsoever. I've also tried to track the source; without more information, I'll assume that someone. made. it. up.

Poking around the web a little further ... it looks like the study may have been done in 2001. MIT and Wellesley only, of course, which is worth knowing.

http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2007/04/intercourse-and-intelligence.php

puts it to rest for me.

"By the age of 19, 80% of US males and 75% of women have lost their virginity, and 87% of college students have had sex. But this number appears to be much lower at elite (i.e. more intelligent) colleges. According to the article, only 56% of Princeton undergraduates have had intercourse. At Harvard 59% of the undergraduates are non-virgins, and at MIT, only a slight majority, 51%, have had intercourse. Further, only 65% of MIT graduate students have had sex."

-jeff

Good find. That does appear to be the same chart.

Maybe someone can shed light on why this chart suddenly started making the rounds today when it's been around so long.

One thing you left out is that Wellesley college is an all girls college. Which has a high student population of, well, students interested in women more than men. So, it may depend on how you define virginity. Also, don't forget this is the alma matter of our Secretary of State.

Well...I was a music major as a college freshman, and I was not a virgin.

Of course, staying a virgin while being a musician (if you're any good at all) is nearly impossible.

What if you switched majors mid year?

What does virginity mean ?

I found all the statistical jokes amusing and well, true. The sample size is probably too small...
Ironically, I went to a prestigious University and became an Economist with a math minor and virginity was not on the forefront of many of my classmates minds... as well as my own.

I agree w/ the author. "according to whom?"
stereotypes are easy, but the truth is a lot more complex.

This chart was obviously created by a guy who was trying to convince his art major girlfriend that it was okay for her to give up her virginity- everyone else is doing it - type deal lol

There are no virgins over the age of 13 anywhere!

Life is too short for someone to write articles like this...

its all in the name.....

I love how people read the article, care enough to leave a comment, and then call it stupid or a waste of time. Obviously, it wasn't a waste, was it? Lol

This article is incorrect.
If you are a female and you are in college, you're not a virgin.
Ever.

According to Pam, they're not in high school either!

Hi Rafael,

You are certainly correct about the sample sizes being small. As a student at MIT back when Counterpoint was a co-publication between the two schools, I remember reading this article and seeing it posted on a few bulletin boards. Counterpoint is an informal campus magazine, not a scientific journal. This student circulated an anonymous survey and probably got a few hundred responses.

You might get some context for the statistical relevance of this by noting that there are a lot of simple fractions on the graph. For example, 20% = 1 in 5. There were probably only 5 or 10 anthropology majors who responded. 83%=5/6, so there's a good chance that's 6 or 12 math majors and 6 or 12 chem majors. All three of those are fairly small majors at Wellesley. Studio arts is even smaller.

The majors that are likely to have had a significant number of respondents are economics, biology, english, psychology, political science, and undeclared. Each of those are ~10% of the undergrad population.

Incidentally, counterpoint lost funding from the undergrad association last year and closed up shop. That's why you can't find a website.

I've been able to piece together a couple of things here and there, but not enough for an overall picture. Based on what you and jutsjss have written, it appears this was written earlier in this decade, when Counterpoint was still a joint Wellesley-MIT effort.

Wellesley assures me that Counterpoint does still exist in some form, but is not officially associated with the school, so they won't tell me much more than that. I've left e-mails with the contact provided and hope to hear back from someone (but I won't lose a whole lot of sleep if I don't; I do have a real job, after all).

Another question I have is, what was the context of the chart? Did it even try to prove anything, or was it presented as an unrepresentative semi-joke?

And why did this chart suddenly start making the rounds on the Internets again on Tuesday, after all these years, without any pretense of attempting to show the context?

Inquiring minds... probably don't care all that much. But if I ever get answers to these questions, I'll be happy to share.

Me? I just thought the chart was funny. I hope everyone who read it enjoyed it and didn't take it too seriously.

Rafael, I have no idea why this stupid chart is suddenly appearing, but I know it's from the Nov 2001 issue of Counterpoint, what was then a joint MIT-Wellesley publication. Archives are no longer online, but I still have a hard copy if you actually care that much. Here's what I wrote on Nerve.com earlier today, when I was shocked to see the graph I had some responsibility in creating:

"I went to Wellesley during the time period when this survey was conducted, and it is definitely not scientific, nor was it ever claimed to be. It’s self-reported, and I (for better or worse) worked for the student magazine that conducted it. We also surveyed MIT students since the publication was jointly authored, and of course far fewer MIT students admitted to being virgins, with men reporting lower virginity rates (of course). Unfortunately, the original article is no longer online or I would link to it.

I can say that the topic was relevant at the time since Rolling Stone had just published an article about (supposedly) wild Wellesley women, and professors started speaking out about all the students they had shagged.
http://jaydixit.com/writing/wellesley.htm

I honestly can’t remember how we defined sex, but I think we left it up to the respondent. At Wellesley, there is plenty of awareness that activities other than penis-vagina intercourse are considered sex, trust me! But admittedly the article did focus on heterosexual sex.

I find it completely hilarious that this survey is surfacing again, since I’ve seen it on one other blog, but it’s always the Wellesley version from NINE years ago. Of course, it’s probably fairly accurate even if the methods were terrible, but what do I know? I was a linguistics major who had already been pregnant before matriculating . . ."