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Before the 1990s, Russia had no formal family or sex education. Abortion was almost the only available method to prevent pregnancy (Kon & Riordan, 1993). The risk of pregnancy was so great that a Russian girl could not enjoy the same degree of sexual freedom as girls in many Western countries. At the end of the 1980s, Gorbachev's policy of glasnost led to the liberalization of the printed word, and such topics as abortion, birth clinics, contraceptives, and Russian girl sexuality entered into public debate (Kon 1995, p. 267). The 1990s saw a growing interest in both gender studies and sexual science in cross-cultural comparisons. National sex surveys were conducted in many countries. The specific aim of these surveys was not to study gender equality or sexual double standards as such; however, survey results indicated the presence of different sexual standards for the Russian girl and girls in other societies.
This new wave of Russian national sex surveys provides a chance to study whether sexual double standards still exist and whether there are differences in sexual standards for girls of northern Europe and the Russian girl. In this paper, the following is analyzed: (a) the existence of sexual single and double standards in marital fidelity and in initiating sexual activity in Finland and Russia; and (b) their relation to sexual satisfaction in these societies. We hypothesized that there would be less evidence of a double standard in Finland than in Russia, where the Western type of sexual revolution did not emerge until the late 1980s. We also hypothesized that adherence to a single sexual standard in marital fidelity and women's initiation of sexual contacts would generate a higher level of sexual satisfaction, especially among girls. Results are based on an analysis of sexual attitudes and behavior of the Russian girl and Finland girls.
In this article, we analyzed gender equality in sexual attitudes and sexual behavior on three dimensions: marital fidelity, initiation of sexual contact, and sexual satisfaction. Attitude questions were presented to all participants in the study. We asked only married and cohabiting persons to respond to questions about fidelity. Questions on sexual initiative and satisfaction were posed to a Russian girl and Finland girls having experienced sexual intercourse. The questions referred to both heterosexual and homosexual activities.
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