This Can’t Be Right, Can It? (American Sex Survey)
So last week Tressugar referenced a statistic from the American Sex Survey that seemed utterly implausible to me, that only 34% of women thought about sex daily.
She thought it seemed pretty dubious, too, and asked her readers to weigh in.
I was intrigued and so I opened up the survey and started reading (at first I thought the survey was a joke because it’s on sloshspot but they are actually referencing a survey from the Kinsey Institute.
Anyway, I thought most of the results were shocking. SHOCKING. Here is one little tidbit that I couldn’t help but fixate on:
- 90% of men and 86% of women have had sex in the last year.
- 27% of men and 19% of women have had oral sex in the last year.
WTF? Seriously, that just seems wrong to me. First of all, the numbers for “had sex in the last year” seem high. I know way too many people who aren’t getting any for that to seem accurate. And I’d think the numbers for oral sex would be somewhat closer to the numbers for “plain” sex. No?
So let’s see if my hunches prove true with you kind folks out there in the blogosphere.
Women Only Poll:
Loading ... Loading ...Men Only Poll:
Loading ... Loading ...What about you, are you surprised with the poll results?
Tags: American, kind, oral sex, poll, sex, sex stats, WTF
oh hell- I’m surprised by the “no” answers – -cause I thought I got everybody. Ok, just kidding.
Haha brilliant! @Terry
What’s the age range of their survey? I don’t think the results are that shocking if the survey was for 25-30 year olds. Maybe the UK is more promiscuous than NYC. Not that I’m bragging – it’s often unpleasant. And I myself once went three years without IT.
I’m not sure your readers are a representative sample of Americans when it comes to having sex! But those numbers definitely don’t sound right. I’m not sure if there was a more recent study but an ABC news story from 2004 has overall numbers that are lower (86% of men, 70% of women). Still sort of high but closer to believable. I wonder if the sloshspot post meant the percent that have EVER had sex in their lives?
I agree with Fishy, knowing the age range of the participants is crucial in deciphering the accuracy of the poll. Maybe things are a little more liberal up here but the first set of statistics doesn’t surprise me… it’s that the oral sex statistics don’t match up that disappoints me.
Dang, I thought it would be the other way around!
Did you read the part about 31% of women only having 1 sex partner in their entire life; 20% of men. Suckers.
The poll they were referencing seems to be the same 2004 ABC news survey that Quirkyeconomist mentioned. Here it is in it’s full glory.
http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/959a1AmericanSexSurvey.pdf
And, fwiw, I think “our” poll results seem to make a lot of sense to me. Unscientific and nonrepresentative though it may be.
Maybe the low numbers for oral sex were of those who did not have intercourse in the last year (the 10 – 14% that didn’t) – of those, only only 27 – 19% had oral sex. To me, that is the only way the numbers could make any sense. Who doesn’t like to taste their partner a bit before the big act?
Hmm, to answer that question honestly, for me it would depend on the year. I am 32 and have had a couple of dry spells since college that lasted over a year each. And it was psychologically painful every single celibate day.
I also have to wonder how large the sample sizes are for these surveys, and who they are questioning, especially as it pertains to the number of partners. I read a “fact” in Cosmo last night that said that the average woman has 4 sex partners in her life. Really? I can only think of one woman between 25-45 that can be included in that figure.