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More Sex Please, We're Artists
November 30, 2005

People have historically linked the bohemian life of artists with promiscuity and a new British study says there's no coincidence about it.

Psychology researchers at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and at Open University found that professional artists and poets have more sexual partners than "those who do not indulge in these creative activities."

However, researchers also found that artists and poets tend to suffer from high rates of depression.

The findings were published Tuesday in the academic journal The Proceedings of the Royal Society.

For the study, Daniel Nettle, a psychologist at Newcastle University's School of Biology, and his colleague Helen Clegg questioned 425 British men and women, including a selection of visual artists, poets and schizophrenic patients, about their creative pursuits, sexual history and mental health.

They found that professional artists and poets had between four and 10 sexual partners, while non-creative types had an average of three. "We found it in both the men and women, which was quite a surprise to us," Nettle, the lead author of the study, told Reuters.

Researchers also found that a subject's average number of sexual partners "rose in line with an increase in the amount of creative activity a person took part in."

"Creative people are often considered to be very attractive and get lots of attention as a result. They tend to be charismatic and produce art and poetry that grabs people's interest," Nettle said in a statement.

"It could also be that very creative types lead a bohemian lifestyle and tend to act on more sexual impulses and opportunities, often purely for experience's sake, than the average person."

Furthermore, "this sexual behaviour is tolerated in creative people," Nettle added. "Partners, even long-term ones, are less likely to expect loyalty and fidelity from them."

Though a reputation for active sex lives has long been associated with some of the world's most famous artists including painters Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani or poets Lord Byron and Dylan Thomas – the researchers believe this to be the first time that the link has been proven by research.

— CBC Arts

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— jamessebor