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Vaginal Orgasms: How Many Women Have Them?

Female Orgasm

Female Orgasm

Are vaginal orgasms the new yeti?

A new study published in “Clinical Anatomy“ came out on Oct. 6th, taking on various aspects of womens’ orgasms. The study claims that the vagina has no such structure that would lend itself to producing orgasms, and therefore there is no such thing as a vaginal orgasm. It also suggests that the vaginal orgasm some women claim to experience is caused by surrounding “orgasm triggers.”

(If you’re having trouble wading through the abstract, “The Cut” has a pretty good summary.)

Popular wisdom has always stated that most women do not regularly experience vaginal orgasms. But is this truly the case?

A 2009 article from “Psychology Today“ states that only 25% of women consistently experience vaginal orgasms. (In fact, that’s pretty much the opening sentence.) This percentage was found using a long-range combination of 33 studies over 80 years, so it’s decently comprehensive. The article doesn’t mention whether said women also experienced clitoral orgasms, or exactly what timeframe was used to measure consistency.

Contrary to Freud’s belief, the conclusions this new study is drawing might make women think they’re inferior if they are having vaginal orgasms. Because if you have a vaginal orgasm, and then are told they don’t exist, did you even O at all?

 

How Many People in the US Have an STD?

Graphic from "RA Magazine"

Graphic from “RA Magazine”

Here’s a fun number to keep in mind as we head into the weekend: more than 110M people have an STD.

According to two studies in the “Sexually Transmitted Diseases” journal, twenty million more people in the US get an STD each year, with half of these people ages 15-24. (The article doesn’t mention the overall age range of the study.)

Assuming the US population is the same as it was for the 2010 Census, that would mean 35%+ of the population has an STD.

Just something to keep in mind. Happy Friday!

How Long Does Foreplay Last for Couples?

Couple in bed

Couple in bed

It sets us on the path to get the big O: foreplay. We’re told to put some time into it (i.e. around 20 minutes or so) before starting intercourse for good reason. But how much time do couples spend on it?

A 2013 “Glamour” survey delves deep into this one. They found that the majority (33%) spent a measly 5-9 minutes on foreplay, with 10-14 minutes (24%) and less than 5 minutes (23%) closely following. Longer foreplay times of 15-19 minutes and over 20 minutes clocked in at 12% and 8%, respectively.

But we can’t really glean a whole lot of information from this, due to the methodology (or what “Glamour” is willing to reveal about it). The article notes that it surveyed 1K+ “young women,” but we have no idea the age range of said women. So we can’t draw any conclusion on how long foreplay lasts based on age.

There’s also the self-selection bias, in that they only surveyed readers who would be up for spilling those details. And since “Glamour” readers tend to skew in their ’20s and ’30s, we’d only be able to see details within that range.

Bottom line: we could all stand to spend more time on foreplay, beginning with outside the bedroom.

How Many People Use Vibrators?

Rabbit vibrators

Rabbit vibrators

You might think this is a no-brainer, that everyone uses one. Sure, it might be common in your circle of friends, if you’re pretty open about it. But what exactly are the hard stats on vibrator use?

A 2008 study shows that 53% of women have used a vibrator at some point in their lives. The study surveyed 2K+ women ages 18-60.

The study also found that 45% of men have used a vibrator at least once, out of a sample of 1K+ men within the same age range. However, the study does not mention whether the vibrators were used with or without a partner, and what age ranges within the larger set reported the most vibrator use. (This was true for the womens’ results as well.)

These results show that while most men may not be up for using vibrators to please their partners, there are some that exist out there.

 

HIV: How Many People Are Living With It?

HIV-AIDS Logo

HIV-AIDS Logo

Though it’s declined since its discovery in the early 1980s, HIV is still a problem

A 2013 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that over 1.1M people have HIV, with nearly 16% unaware of it. (For context, the 2010 Census reported a total of 308M+ US citizens.) The study looked at participants at least 13 years of age.

Unfortunately, we’re not able to see how the number distributes (i.e. are more people in their ’20s and/or ’30s affected than people in their ’40s and/or ’50s?), but that’d be useful to find out.

 

 

Period Sex: Who’s Doing It?

Splattergore

Splattergore

“The Cut” published an article yesterday on period sex. While the overall excellent article was long on anecdotes, it lacked what I love: hard stats!

How many women are having period sex? It’s the thing we dread will ruin our steady dates and hot hookups, but some women have figured out that it doesn’t have to be that way.

In 2011, menstrual cup company Softcup released a survey that uncovered, among other things, how much a woman’s perdio affects her sex life. The survey found that 60% of all women are uncomfortable with period sex. It showed an age disparity: 70% of older women (ages 45-54) were uncomfortable, while only 51% of younger women (ages 18-34) were.

(I don’t know where women ages 35-44 disappeared to.)

It’s clear that the majority of women haven’t gotten into period sex. But based on the “NYMag” article, the men are having more fun than ever.