We thought it would happen last year. In fact, we were promised. For months leading up to it, after countless lockdowns and standing in mile-long queues to get double-jabbed, it was going to be a ‘hot-vax summer’ of dreams. But, as the weeks rolled by, it never quite arrived. The summer of sex went soft. It felt like a fling with that self-proclaimed ‘player’ who promises to rock your world if you just give them a chance: lots of chat, followed, ultimately, by disappointment. It turned out people weren’t ready to jump straight from social sobriety to full-blown revelry. However, the summer we were promised wasn’t gone, just delayed, and now it’s finally here: wild, sinful and hot.
Summer is naturally a charged time of year. ‘Research suggests an increased interest in sex during the early summer,’ says Dr Charlotte Markey, professor of psychology at Rutgers University-Camden. Her data looked at spikes in people searching for risqué content on the internet, but is also supported by other indicators, such as purchases of contraception and, conversely, babies conceived and STDs contracted. ‘And this trend may have been exacerbated during the pandemic, when staying home during winter months – and the Omicron wave – made sense, whereas the summer has been a relatively safer time in terms of Covid,’ she adds.
Sometimes, the stars align to make a summer perfect. Remember 2018, when the weather was sublime, Love Island was in its prime and England had a chance of winning the World Cup? That’s the energy we’re counting on this year – and you can already feel it in the air. While our movements might have been restricted over the past two years, the culture we’ve been consuming has left a hefty dose of sexual tension in the atmosphere. Our television screens have acted like one long, slow foreplay session building up to the time when we can recreate what we’ve seen. What have been the big hitters of recent months? Anything where sex and romance are high up the agenda. We were glued to the teenage angst played out in Euphoria, from Nate and Cassie’s risky bathroom sex to Kat’s murderous fantasy and even that cunnilingus lesson in a scene on fire with chemistry. And, as millions of people can attest, nothing gets a person more ready for a fiery summer romance than Bridgerton. The latest season may have featured fewer explicit scenes than the first, but the frisson of excitement was there in abundance. Who knew croquet could be filled with so much sexual tension? I, for one, plan on recreating it every chance I get (don’t be surprised if you see me walking round with a mallet like it’s the new Gucci bamboo bag accessory).
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And while Normal People’s will-they-won’t-they love affair between Connell and Marianne plunged the nation into a sexual frenzy in the first lockdown, this summer has been the same, with TV adaptations of Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends and Dolly Alderton’s Everything I Know About Love.
But it’s not just television bringing the heat. Romance novels, a genre normally sidelined in the literary sphere, will be on everyone’s reading lists. From Akwaeke Emezi’s You Made A Fool of Death with Your Beauty – which has one of the best opening sex scenes of any book you will read this year – to a pansexual retelling of Much Ado About Nothing called Ben and Beatriz by Katalina Gamarra, and a lesbian romance featuring a city girl and her home-town lumberjane ex in Courtney Kae’s In the Event of Love, the summer of sin is being played out on page. ‘Romance is such a life-sweetener,’ says Bolu Babalola, whose new book Honey & Spice, released this summer, has been dubbed the ‘romcom of the decade’. ‘And the world has been so particularly bitter, that it makes sense that people are ready to embrace it full-heartedly.’ For her, romance novels provide a form of escapism: ‘We can indulge in our fantasies, unabashedly, a place where we are promised a happy ending’. People seem to agree: since the pandemic began, sales of romantic fiction and sagas have gone up by 49%.
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Even our clothes are telling us to let loose. Fashion reflects the times and, this summer, designers are more than hinting, through the amount of skin on show, that they know what’s on our minds. From the covert eroticism of Nensi Dojaka’s cut-outs to Di Petsa’s Grecian, body-clinging wet-look dresses and Versace’s thigh-slits and latex mini-skirt suits, as well as the reemergence of underwear as outerwear, sex is firmly back on the runway – and coming to a wardrobe near you. Alongside this, the return of Y2K fashion staples, including bare midriffs, tight bodycon dresses and sheer clothes, all lend themselves to dressing for a summer of sin.
With all this in place, celibacy may be off the agenda in the coming months. ‘I definitely think we’re going to see a rise in sexual activity,’ says Reed Amber, co-host of the podcast F**ks Given, which discusses sex, relationships and body positivity without any filters. ‘We’ve been looking forward to having this great big return to our social lives and ourselves. Lockdown fast-tracked relationships, so a lot of people are emerging single and looking for new partners, and the best way to do that is to go out and meet people. And summertime, especially in the UK, is the best time to do that.’ Even Gwyneth Paltrow has predicted the mood with her DTF (Down To F*ck) libido-boosting supplements.
According to Amber, though, people aren’t just going out for drinks, but are exploring new ways in which to meet, often accelerating past the small talk of dating apps and DMs and cutting straight to the chase. She’s seen a rise in sex parties, with many of her friends attending one for the first time. ‘They are a great way to explore your sexuality and try new things in the bedroom,’ Amber says. And now, she adds, suitable venues are struggling to keep up with demand. ‘There aren’t enough big spaces or parties to accommodate the number of people that want to attend. They’re becoming too busy to enjoy.’
Emma Sayle, the founder of sex party start-up Killing Kittens, which now has an app ‘for sex-positive people’ and is attracting people away from traditional dating sites, says that there’s been a huge increase in demand for its events – hedonistic sex parties, where women always make the first move and former strangers can be found entwined in every corner – and online site. ‘We’ve gone from averaging around 200 people pre-Covid to now taking over the likes of the Ministry of Sound, with 900 people attending.’ Yasmin*, is a new member of Killing Kittens; she joined over the pandemic: ‘Lockdown as a single woman was hard. I initially joined KK for something to do, as it intrigued me. Hearing the stories of other Kittens and being in such a sexually charged environment soon raised my libido. As soon as lockdown was over, I booked my first event – and I’m now living my best sex life.’
After more than two years of lockdowns, we’re ready to throw caution to the wind. And even terrifying world developments aren’t going to stop us finding each other: in fact, it could make us even more intent on making the most of every moment. Dr Sheri Jacobson, psychotherapist and founder of the London Psychotherapy Group, Harley Therapy, explains that in times of heightened pressure – think horrifying daily news, the war in Ukraine, a looming recession – many people’s response will be to fight off the threat by embracing life, which includes, ‘seeking intimacy and engaging in new or relatively risky activities,’ she says. ‘Difficult world events and frightening news reports can indeed bring us closer and lead us to capitalise on our freedoms.’
But perhaps nothing symbolises that this summer will be everything the last one promised to be (but failed to deliver on) than the resurgence of festivals. The apex of horny summers; the pinnacle of wild, free-loving hedonism; the opposite of Zoom calls, home offices and being stuck on mute. Millennials who bought their tickets for big festivals like Glastonbury when they were 28 are now 31, and plan to party like they’re 19. And the 19-year-olds who will now be attending couldn’t legally have sex the last time thousands of people flocked to Worthy Farm. Get ready for micro mini-skirts paired with wellington boots, repressed millennials and horny gen Zs mingling together: think warm cider and croquet mallets.
Ultimately, the lockdowns created two years’ worth of pent-up debauchery, when all we could do was sit inside and dream of dancing beside our friends or going home with a stranger. Last year, we weren’t quite ready to dive head-first into our fantasies – but this summer there’s nothing holding us back. We’ve waited a long, long time. So take Gwyneth’s pill if you need it, and get ready for a summer you won’t forget.
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