Generation Z is shunning sex for digital relationships. Don’t say you wouldn’t have done the same

I didn’t want to have sex so young, but we girls felt under pressure – especially with a steady boyfriend in tow who might chuck you if you didn’t perform. Thank goodness things have changed for today’s teens

Spark's gone: young people are having less sex (iStock)

Who was having sex in the 1980s? I spent the decade trussed up in a lycra jumpsuit. Although there was a handy front-loading zip, I was getting my kicks hurtling out of helicopters. But think of that decade of sexy dance music, “Sexual Healing” and “I Want Your Sex”, that was pretty much the mantra for a hot teenage crowd.

So I was interested yesterday to read an article headlined No sex please, we’re Generation Z. It seems UK teens today are less likely to have sex underage than their predecessors. Only a fifth of boys and a third of girls are sexually experienced at 14 – or even want to be.

Parents must be sighing with relief. I remember the experience of being sent off to the family planning centre with my boyfriend. I was 15, he was 17, which seems very louche nowadays. I didn’t even want to have sex so young, but it was just the pressure girls were under – especially with a steady boyfriend in tow, feeling insecure that he might chuck you if you didn’t perform. Parents today are more likely to be marching their teenage offspring off to their therapist.