With a strong (and historic) LGBTQI+ community, access to contraceptives, and variety of sex stores, Vancouver has been named one of the 10 most sexually liberal cities in the world.
German sex-positive magazine Lust crunched numbers regarding everything from the number of gay bars in a city to gender rights to the legality of sex work in a broad look at how sexually liberal different cities around the world are.
Vancouver ranked 10th when compared to other metropolises.
"Sexual freedom is very important in Vancouver," notes the report. "Hence its respectable place in our ranking. There are big LGBTQI+ festivals and events five times a year in the city and far-reaching laws to protect the rights of minorities."
Vancouver finished just behind Montreal (ninth) and Toronto (12).
While the city did well, there's room for improvement.
"Similarly to Montreal, the neo-abolishinist principle applies to Vancouver after attempts to achieve extensive containment of prostitution through a sex purchase ban," notes the report, explaining that this means prostitution still exists, but is more discreet.
The report highlighted the "25 most sexually permissive cities" in the world; almost all of them are in Europe or North America, according to the report. Taking first place was Cologne, Germany, followed by West Hollywood in California. Major European centres rounded out the top five with Amsterdam, Madrid and Berlin falling in that order.
Santiago, the capital of Chile, and the Australian cities of Melbourne and Sydney also made the list.
The report's authors, who are from Germany, argue sex positivity, or permissiveness, is an important indicator of a society, "because it says a lot about a society in general when minorities such as the LGBTQI+ community or women are restricted in their development opportunities."
"Anyone who conforms to typical sexual norms - for example as a heterosexual, white male without unusual erotic desires - may not be particularly affected by restrictions on sexual freedom," they write. "However, this does not necessarily apply to the female population of Germany, which makes up 51 per cent of the total population, nor the 7.4 per cent of people who feel part of the LGBTQI+ community."
When the magazine first conducted the study in 2021 Vancouver just barely made the list, ranking 25th.
