It seems that many people wonder about how "normal" their sex lives are – and this curiosity is shared by a wide variety of academics, agencies, organizations and companies that conduct surveys and assessments of the public's sexual preferences and practices.
Studying the results of sexual normality surveys can be an eye-opening experience and one that dispels some common stereotypes – while seemingly supporting others.
For example, it appears that sex does indeed stop after marriage or the solidification of a secure relationship — when less than half of women reported wanting sex regularly — and that rate drops to only 20 percent of women wanting sex with their partner after 20 years.
Men, however, display a steady desire for sex regardless of the length of the relationship — although that desire happens less frequently than "every seven seconds." According to the Kinsey report Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, nearly half of all men think about sex less than once per day.
Some surveys target regional preferences, such as Nuremberg-based consumer group GfK, which reports that 15 percent fewer Germans want sex at least once per week than do their European counterparts, while favoring a trip to Italy for romantic affairs.
UK-based Gametart claims that female gamers have more sex than non-gamers.
A new study by Vanderbilt University suggests that our brains see aggression as a reward, processing violent stimulation in much the same way as it does sex, food and drugs.
Other surveys pose more targeted insights for adult industry operatives. For example, ABC News reports its Primetime Live American Sex Survey found that two-thirds of Americans will occasionally "wear something sexy" in an effort to improve their sex lives, while 30 percent claim to have watched a porn video with a partner. Close to 40 million people claim to have visited an adult website.
Relationship expert Dr. Yvonne Kristín Fulbright, writing in a recent Fox News column entitled "Is Your Sex Life Normal?" revealed that 17 percent of women spend an average of 1.5 hours each week looking at online porn, while men averaged another hour of smut surfing weekly – and are twice as likely to do it while at work than are women.
Far from an idle curiosity for members of the adult entertainment industry, studying studies provides operators with a deeper understanding of consumers' sexual preferences and allows for better marketing — making the results of these studies serious food for thought.
