How Long Does Foreplay Last for Couples?

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

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.

Fetishes: Where are the Numbers?

BDSM Fetish-gear

Earlier this week, I was curious about finding statistics on fetishes of any kind. Guess what? It’s pretty hard to do for a few reasons.

The biggest one is that data from sexual studies is self-reported by the participants. Of course, these participants can easily lie. Maybe they’re ashamed of their fetish, or unwilling to give that information to a complete stranger. (Side note: I personally find it easier to lie to someone I know compared to someone I don’t, but that’s just a personal preference.) Either way, there’d be a large margin of error since the studies can’t account for those unwilling to tell the truth, and so fully participate.

The only way to get around this would be to subject male participants to a penile plethysmograph, which measures bloodflow to the penis. But this would obviously take a lot of time and investment into new practices. There’s also no female equivalent, so there’d be no way to compare.

Another reason is that something a study identifies as a fetish might be pretty vanilla for someone else. So there can be gaps between what two people believe to be fetishes, and that may play into their answers.

With the answers, part of the problem may lie in how the questions are phrased. If a question is leading, a participant may get flustered and answer the question in a way that diverges from what they actually feel and/or do.

But the overall question is: what is “normal” sex? There’s no agreed-upon baseline, so what exactly constitutes a fetish is hard to determine.

Legal Prostitution in Nevada: By The Numbers

Mustang Ranch in Storey County, Nevada

Everyone’s heard about prostitution being legal in Nevada. And it is…but only in 11 rural counties.

Not many people know much about the intricacies of legal prostitution, so I decided to find out. After some digging, here are some interesting facts about Nevada’s legal prostitution in the United States.

Number of counties allowing prostitution: 11

Number of active brothels: 22

Number of closed brothels: 8

Number of counties banning prostitution: 4

First licensed brothel: Mustang Ranch in 1971

Male prostitutes legalized: 2009

#ThrowbackThursday: Ernst Grafenberg

Ernst Grafenberg

German doctor and scientist Ernst Grafenberg was born on Sept. 26, 1881. (If he was still with us, he’d be 133 years old.) His contributions to sexual research include creating the first intrauterine device (IUD) in 1929, then known as the Grafenberg ring, and research into how women’s urethras play into orgasm.

But his name is more famously associated with the G-spot, G as in Grafenberg. The G-spot was given his name in 1981.

HIV: How Many People Are Living With It?

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.

Faking It: Who’s Doing It?

Maybe she will, maybe she won’t.

Women faking orgasms have been a staple of pop culture for, well, probably forever. (I’m sure there’s a cave painting illustrating this somewhere that’s yet to be discovered.) But just how common is it?

A recent study finds that 80% of women fake their Os. At first glance, this seems high, doesn’t it?

Like many sex stats, the data is self-reported. I’m wondering if even more women fake it, but didn’t admit to it during the study. Of course, there’s no way to confirm this, short of doing another survey, since some women might (understandably) lie.

There’s also the issue that the majority of women can’t come purely from vaginal intercourse. Did the study ask women if they can (by which I mean physically able to) come from vaginal penetration? The study’s abstract doesn’t elaborate on this point, but it might be within the whole study.

Either way, a large number of women are faking it for a variety of reasons.

Sleeping Naked: The Numbers

Couple Sleeping (sadly, not naked)

Lately, there’s been some talk about the health benefits of sleeping naked, especially for women: body confidence, airing out your downstairs, etc. A recent study found that only 8% of Americans sleep naked, while over 74% keep clothed.

Seems pretty low, doesn’t it? Almost too low.

Alfred Kinsey covered this topic within his own studies. He found that over 41% of men reported sleeping naked (within a sample size of 5.3K) and half of married women (out of a sample size of 5.49K). (From what I could see, there wasn’t any differentiation between single and married men.)

Kinsey’s number seems a bit more reasonable. I find it hard to believe that sleeping-nude stats have actually declined within the last few decades. My reasoning is that since it’s a topic out in the open now, there’d be more people open to doing so and admitting to it.

Polygamy: How Common Is It?

Mormonism founder Joseph Smith, Jr. and his polygamist family

“The Talk” host Julie Chen revealed a family secret this week: her maternal grandfather was a polygamist. He had nine wives.

We’ve all seen “Big Love,” the HBO show centering on a Mormon man (Bill Paxton) and his three wives (Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny, and Ginnifer Goodwin) that ran 2006-2011. The show single-handedly brought a depiction of modern polygamy into premium cable holders’ homes and greater mainstream culture.

How common is polygamy, both in the United States and the world?

Oprah’s “Polygamy in America” report cites experts at putting the US number between 30K and 50K. Another source notes that it’s difficult to find hard numbers on polygamists because plural marriages aren’t documented.

In the greater world, Polygamy Stop estimates another 100K+ people are practice polygamy in Western Europe. The site also notes that polygamy is legal in over 150 countries in Africa, the Middle East and various countries in the Third World (none are specified).

If anything, this news gives Chen quite the conversation-starter for her next dinner party.

Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang

Statistics. Economics. Sex.