The Record sent out a survey to 1,000 randomly selected students last week in order to explore how students at the College meet their sexual partners, how they define sexual pleasure, and how satisfied they are with recent sexual encounters they’ve had on campus. It uncovered broad dissatisfaction with the College’s sexual scene as well as disparities in satisfaction among genders. 

The survey received 388 responses — a response rate of approximately 39 percent. Respondents were members of the three upperclass years, with 154 sophomores, 107 juniors, and 127 seniors participating. Since the survey asked about encounters at the College from the last 12 months, it was not sent to first-year students. Off-cycle students were asked to round their class years down. 

Of respondents, 56 percent identified as female, 38 percent as male, five percent as nonbinary, and one percent as another gender. 

Students identifying as white made up 58 percent of respondents, greater than the 48 percent of enrolled students who identified as white, according to the 2023–24 Common Data Set. Nine percent of respondents identified as Hispanic/Latinx, compared with roughly 13 percent of enrolled students. The other racial groups were roughly on par with the composition of the school as a whole. 

The majority of student respondents — 78 percent — reported having a sexual encounter during their time at the College, and 74 percent said they had sexual encounters at the College within the last year. 

An overwhelming majority of respondents sexually active in the last year — 88 percent — reported that they had one to three partners in that time. Seven percent said they had four to six, and two percent said they had seven or more partners.

Students were also asked about the types of relationships they engage in at the College. Sixty percent of respondents reported that they have been in a committed relationship in the last year.

A satisfaction gap among genders

Respondents who said they had sexual encounters within the last year at the College were asked to reflect on their experiences and report their sexual satisfaction in encounters with partners of each gender. 

Overall, 50 percent of women and 59 percent of men reported satisfaction with their encounters often or always.

Nelson Del Tufo ’25, who volunteered to speak with the Record, said he expected the survey to find a gap in sexual satisfaction between men and women. “There’s an orgasm gap — everyone’s kind of aware of that,” he said, referencing the phenomenon in which women have fewer orgasms than their male partners.

The survey found a 15-point difference in satisfaction between women who had sexual encounters with men and men who had sexual encounters with women. Of those 159 women, 45 percent reported that they were often or always satisfied when having sexual encounters with men — the lowest satisfaction reported among all gender categories and pairings. On the other hand, 60 percent of the 104 men having sexual encounters with women reported often or always feeling satisfied in those encounters. Because a small sample of respondents identified as nonbinary or another gender, the Record limited its gender-based analysis to respondents who identified as male or female.

Women who had sexual encounters with women ­— totaling 40 of the respondents — reported the most satisfaction across all groups. Sixty-five percent reported they felt often or always satisfied in encounters with other women. Men having sexual encounters with men — totaling 24 respondents — closely followed, with 63 percent reporting satisfaction.

The survey also asked students to estimate how satisfied their partners were in their sexual encounters. While every group overestimated their partners’ sexual satisfaction, women having sexual encounters with men did so at the highest rate. Ninety percent reported that they believed their male partners were often or always satisfied, while men having sexual encounters with women reported satisfaction only 60 percent of the time — a 30 point overestimation.

Men having sexual encounters with women overestimated their female partners’ satisfaction by 25 points. Men having sexual encounters with other men  overestimated the least: Seventy percent reported perceived partner satisfaction, just seven points above the actual satisfaction reported by their partners.

Discontent with the College’s sex scene

Just 26 percent of all respondents reported that they were somewhat or very satisfied with the sexual scene at the College, while 42 percent expressed that they were somewhat or very dissatisfied. Of those reporting satisfaction, 52 percent were women and 43 percent were men.

Students who have been in romantic relationships at the College in the last year were more satisfied with the sexual scene at the College. Forty-eight percent of these students reported satisfaction, compared to seven percent among those who had not been in a romantic relationship in the last year.

There was a slight difference between the reported satisfaction among those who identify as LGBTQ+ — 24 percent of whom were satisfied — and those who do not. Twenty-seven percent of students who do not identify as LGBTQ+ reported satisfaction with the sexual scene. 

Del Tufo described what he sees as a “puritanical culture” on campus as contributing to general dissatisfaction with the sexual scene. “It’s a college that, despite being very liberal, is often very conservative in its social and sexual norms,” he said. “People aren’t super expressive in ways that aren’t traditional. I guess people aren’t very comfortable making moves or expressing their sexuality — whatever that means — very publicly, even at parties… Rarely do you see a dance floor make-out session.”

Greta Vaughn ’26 partially attributed dissatisfaction to the heavy workload students face. “Honestly, going back to someone’s gross room — it’s not worth it,” she said. “Like, I have work to do tomorrow. I’d rather go home and wash my face and get a full night’s sleep than have to do the walk of shame in the morning. It’s not fun. It’s not exciting.”

Vaughn also suggested that gossip might stifle the sexual scene at the College, especially because of its small student body. “The major reason that I’ve had my ‘sex-sober semester’ is people get so nosy,” she said. “If you don’t have a satisfying encounter with [someone], guess what? Now you’re going to have to see them in class or around campus, or suddenly they’re going to have the same schedule as you, and you’re going to see them all the time. Creating more complicated relationships with people who you’re going to see everywhere is just not worth it.” 

Del Tufo posited that the inevitability of seeing previous sexual partners around campus might limit casual relationships. “I would say that people at Williams — this is another big generalization — tend to really overthink things and intellectualize things,” he said. “That might make it harder to have a positive relationship with someone who you are no longer seeing.”

Carlos Hernandez Tavares ’25 offered a contrasting perspective, noting a lack of stigma around casual sex on campus. “I feel like most of the time it doesn’t really get out there,” he said. “I think it’s kind of healthy that it doesn’t feel like everyone is watching and knows and is interested.”

Alex Moon ’27 believes the dissatisfaction stems from unfulfilled expectations. While many students may expect a vibrant sex scene on campus, he said, they may be disappointed. “Some of it comes from the preconceived notions of being a college student — like an expectation-reality mismatch,” he said. “It’s also a college that is known for being very academically rigorous and not so socially rigorous.” 

Meeting sexual partners at the College 

Respondents’ sexual partners of the past year were most commonly friends or romantic partners before their first sexual encounter, at 45 and 44 percent, respectively. Thirty-nine percent of respondents reported having sexual encounters with acquaintances, and 19 percent reported having sexual encounters with strangers.

Sixty-two percent of sexually active respondents reported that a first encounter with a partner had been initiated at a party within the past year. 

Thirty-five percent of respondents have used a dating app or site at the College. Students most frequently reported using Tinder, EphMatch, and Hinge, in that order.

Among respondents who reported both having sexual encounters in the last year and using dating apps or sites at the College, 30 percent said that they matched or chatted on a dating app or site with a partner prior to their sexual encounter.

Del Tufo, who said he has never used a dating app while on campus, attributed the low use of dating apps to the College’s small size. “Turning on a dating app — you know, publicly putting yourself on the market — is something that might become gossip in your friend group,” he said. “A lot of people, understandably, don’t want to deal with that, myself included.”

How students define sexual pleasure 

The survey also asked respondents who have had sexual encounters at the College to rate the importance of four factors that could contribute to sexual satisfaction — reaching orgasm, experiencing sexual pleasure regardless of orgasm, experiencing physical intimacy, and experiencing emotional intimacy — on a scale of one (“not at all”) to five (“very”). Respondents could also indicate that the extent to which the factor contributes to their satisfaction “varies too much to say.”

Respondents indicated that experiencing sexual pleasure regardless of orgasm and experiencing physical intimacy were the two most important factors contributing to their satisfaction. Ninety-two percent of respondents rated experiencing physical intimacy a four or a five in importance. The same percentage of respondents gave a four or five to experiencing sexual pleasure as well, though more respondents said experiencing physical intimacy was “very important” than said so about experiencing sexual pleasure regardless of orgasm. 

The importance of reaching orgasm was the factor that differed the most across genders. Sixty-five percent of men rated reaching orgasm a four or five compared to 49 percent of women. By contrast, women assigned more importance to experiencing sexual pleasure regardless of orgasm. Ninety-six percent of women rated that factor a four or five compared to 88 percent of men.