Judging by the sex lives of my UK friends and I, I’m going to say we’re not sexually repressed.
By all accounts, Queen Victoria herself was very keen on sex.
Did you mean that to sound like how it came across?
I would have said it was the exact opposite. The only country I’ve heard about being fairly up-tight about sex is the US.
Brits are indeed ‘mucky little fuck-pigs’. However, I’ve found many American girls are just as mucky but usually claim they ‘don’t usually do this sort of thing’. Apparently people are much more uptight back home. Never having been to America, I’m not sure what to believe.
Maybe. 
Oh deary me, what total crap.
Great Britain is an island: it’s a geographical term; people from that island are thus British. Furthermore, despite your including them in your list, people from Ireland are not British by dint of geography; however, since the nationality of the UK is also ‘British’, you’ll find a great number of Northern Irish Unionists who self-identify as ‘Brits’.
Again, complete bollocks. I personally refer to myself as English first; British second. But if you want to hear distinctly non-imperialist people referring to ‘Brits’, just come to Ireland for 5 minutes.
As for sexual behaviour, hell yeah, very little prudery. British people are indeed mucky little fuck-pigs. Google ‘Ibiza uncovered’ to view the louche holiday behaviour of my fellow countrypeople.
Except that ‘British Isles’ is also a geograpical term. The use of ‘British’ has bugger all to do with geography (for instance Gibralter and the Falklands) and everything to do with politics.
Even a lot of people from the UK get confused about all the terms we use to describe our country, which are the result of a lot of messy history. The island is called Britain, but IIRC Great Britain includes Northern Ireland. The UK also includes places like the Falkland islands.
Yeah, it’s tricky with that whole ‘British Isles’ moniker, but it’s also unambiguous too. The term ‘British’ is both political and geographical. Citizens of the UK, even in NI, may call themselves British. The following statement:
…is just wrong. Great Britain is the name of the big island. The other, smaller, island is called Ireland. There’s no confusion there.
The UK is specifically The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Falklands, Gibraltar, etc. are various kinds of overseas dependent territories.
There’s a million previous threads that spell this out. NI is part of the UK, but not of Great Britain. The Falklands, Bermuda, Gibraltar etc are overseas territories of the United Kingdom, not part of the UK itself.
Aagramn, you’ve stated your opinion on the subject-time to move on and let others state theirs.
All others-please comment on the OP, and not on each other.
Thank you.
Oh, and before anyone mentions them, the Isle of Man and Channel Islands are Crown Dependencies.
This is where you miss the ambiguity, jjimm:
This is not automatically the case.
Please get back on topic NOW.
[Petulant] Sorry, Meta-Gumble started it though. Stamps little feet [/petulant]
OK, so why do other countries (especially the US) perceive us as repressed? Does it go back to the image as portrayed by Victorian morality, that has held on (much as Americans are occasionally incorrectly portrayed as cowboys)?
You are joking, aren’t you?
Since the OP asks about the English vs. “other countries”, I’d like to nominate Korea. One of the most sexually repressed countries I’ve ever heard of. I hear though, the younger generation is a little more open then previous generations, (aren’t they always).
I’m absolutely astonished that so many people said they were not aware of this reputation.
Probably was the Victorians right enough, Steve and I suppose their influence must be all but dead.
Any European dopers care to comment? I was under the impression that the French felt this way towards the English.
I have heard this stereotype about the English before, but I wouldn’t say it is a really serious common belief. It’s more like an 1950s joke stereotype of a general stiffness, comparable to the economical Scotsman, the passionate Italian…
The Americans on the other hand have a reputation of being severely repressed sexually.