An expecting father’s nightmare

My wife and I are expecting our first child in June. (Something that helped inspire me to create WhatisAverage.com; see the FAQs for the full story). When I started telling people that we’re expecting, they’ve invariably asked, “Do you want a boy or girl?” Of course, my answer is, “We just want a healthy baby.” However, after seeing the responses of females ages 13 to 17 in a recent survey, a boy bias is started to take hold of me.(Picture compliments of impawards.com)

I recently partnered with Peanut Labs to conduct a survey of over 4,000 males and females, ages 13 to 44, across the United States. We asked, “What do you want for the holidays?” Since it was a fill-in-the-blank survey, there was a wide variety of answers. There were many wholesome answers like “a healthy baby,” “a husband,” and “time with my family.” But, liberated by the anonymity of the survey, others admitted they were longing for ”a divorce,” "I hate the holidays," or “sex.”

Of consumers who asked for something sexual for the holidays, females ages 13 to 17 made up 52% of the respondents—more than any other age group. The next closest group was males ages 25-34 (19%). While I’m a realist living in 21st century America, I’m not sure any parent likes to contemplate their teenager being active at such early ages.

Perhaps there‘s a double standard when it comes to fathers being far less comfortable with the notion of a sexually active daughter than a son. Regardless, females age 13 to 17 are standing out, which this leads to this week’s follow-up survey for parents or expecting parents: “Would you care or be afraid if your teenager was sexually active?”

I’m guessing the survey will find I have plenty of company in being anxious about this topic. If not, it may make me lean toward having a female age 35 to 44 right away--that group asked for sex the least and replied with wholesome answers the most.

Remember: The survey answers are anonymous, but I encourage everyone to register prior to answering so I can report back on how different demographic groups feel about this question. Are fathers more worried about it than mothers? What percentage of teenagers responded we shouldn’t be worried? Stay tuned.