I have seen that the topic sex is popular in this forum (not saying that it's not popular everywherelse too) !! Here's an interesting article:

Sex in America
By Joannie M. Schrof and Betsy Wagner

10/17/94

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, when pioneer researcher Alfred Kinsey published his exhaustive--but anecdotally based--research on Americans' sex lives, he was bitterly attacked from all sides. In 1966, when William Masters and Virginia Johnson described what they saw of the human body's sexual responses in the laboratory, they were inundated with hate mail, the "drop dead" letters surpassing others at a rate of 9 to 1. Over the last quarter century, American attitudes have softened a bit and research on sexual habits has continued. Even so, given the earlier controversies, no one seemed willing to underwrite a project that would fully illuminate Americans' sexual behaviors and attitudes.

Until now. For the first time in history, a truly scientific nationwide survey reveals what really happens in America's bedrooms. Sex in America, designed by academics at the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center, asked 210 pages' worth of questions of 3,432 Americans and emerged with a portrait that is comforting about the romance that exists in stable relationships, myth-busting when it comes to the sex lives of single men and women, alarming when it comes to the amount of sex that is forced on women and uniquely revealing about the likely size of the gay population. Among the major findings:

Fidelity reigns. Fully 83 percent of Americans had sex with one person or had no sex partners in the past year, and half of Americans have had only one partner in the past five years.

Most Americans have sexual intercourse six or seven times a month.

Married people and couples living together have the most sex--40 percent of marrieds and 56 percent of those living together have intercourse twice a week or more--and they enjoy their sex lives more than singles who live alone.

More than a fifth of women--22 percent--have been forced to perform sexual acts.

The researchers grappled with the explosive question of how large the gay population is; they found that just 2.8 percent of men and 1.4 percent of women say they are gay. When the question is broader, 10.1 percent of men and 8.6 percent of women either identify themselves as gay, say they have had a sexual experience with someone of the same gender or claim to have some physical attraction to members of the same sex.

The researchers believe, based on what they have learned about American sexual practices, that there will not be a widespread breakout of AIDS in the heterosexual population.

Generally, Americans are doing less with each other sexually than the images gleaned from popular culture would imply--and when they do have sex, it's pretty conventional. "Overall, the numbers are reassuring and positive," says project leader Bob Michael, dean of the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy, who thinks the survey proves that society is not going to hell in a handbasket after all. John Gagnon, a sociologist and longtime sex researcher from the State University of New York at Stony Brook who collaborated in the survey, is more circumspect. "You could read the numbers and think, 'Gee, this is terrific; no one's doing anything!'" he points out. "Or you could say, 'This is really terrible. Everyone's so repressed!'"
Whatever the interpretation, the survey has been a long time in coming. It was originally proposed in 1987 by the National Institutes of Health to help scientists fight AIDS. But Congress killed funding for it in 1991 after conservatives caught wind of its intimate questions. It re-emerged after private foundations agreed to back a less ambitious effort.

In fact, though Sex in America is subtitled "A Definitive Survey," the authors emphasize that they have only scratched the surface of what there is to learn about sexual man and woman. The survey is just the most visible product of a cadre of sex researchers who now are trying to fill the gaping holes in our understanding of human sexuality. Slowly, they are starting to piece together answers to questions like: How does an orgasm happen? How much do cultural norms influence what we do in bed? What's normal and what's not? Answers to those questions could prove crucial in crafting policies to address very real tragedies like rape, AIDS and unwanted pregnancy.

THE PLEASURES OF THE BODY Today, as in Aristotle's time three centuries before Jesus, scientists know more about sexual functioning in animals than in humans. Aristotle founded sex research in the Western world when he began documenting the sex practices of various animals. But even a rudimentary understanding of the human body's sexual workings was postponed for another 1,700 years or so under strict religious codes that decreed sexual pleasure of any kind--even in marital relationships--inherently evil. Later, the medical community made its contribution to keeping the study of sexuality a taboo by declaring that sexual pleasure was a disease. In a 1758 treatise, Swiss physician Simon Andre Tissot gave rise to the notorious conviction that masturbating causes blindness. In the 1800s, Elizabeth Osgood Willard argued that orgasm was more debilitating to the system than a hard day's work, and sex just for pleasure was certain to ruin the body's parenting capabilities. Even in this century, Freud advised that women should receive physical pleasure only from the vagina; any clitorally induced pleasure revealed unresolved psychological problems.

Perhaps the most enduring mystery of the body is the experience of orgasm. Masters and Johnson outlined a simple cycle of genital stimulation leading to arousal and eventual orgasm and described many of the things that happen during orgasm: the fast breathing, the muscular contractions, the dilated pupils, that wacky toe curl. The Sex in America

survey found 75 percent of American men and 29 percent of American women experience orgasm virtually every time they have intercourse. That's not terribly startling.

More interesting are the results of new studies that focus on the physiology of orgasm. Many experts say men and women are capable of having much more sexual pleasure than they might suspect. (In a truly astounding case, researchers in one lab found a man who had 17 orgasms in an hour and a woman who had 134.) Other studies are challenging the notion that the secret to orgasm lies in the genitals. Rutgers University researchers Beverly Whipple and Barry Komisaruk found that victims of spinal-cord injuries whose nerve pathways from the genitals have been severed often develop hypersensitive areas elsewhere on their body that, when stroked, will bring them to orgasm. They also looked at healthy women and found that the right caressing of the back, the neck, the hands or other favored spot would bring them to orgasm as well.

Together with therapist Gina Ogden, Whipple and Komisaruk took it a step further and discovered that women can indeed reach full-blown orgasm through fantasy alone, with no body stimulation whatsoever. Nobody knows for sure why different stimulations trigger ecstasy. But Komisaruk hypothesizes that orgasm is a matter of the brain recruiting increasing numbers of sensory neurons to fire simultaneously until a threshold is crossed and ecstasy is unleashed.

Not only is orgasm the peak of physical pleasure, it may have significant health benefits that mirror some of the salutary effects of exercise. Orgasm acts as a powerful pain-relief agent, and some studies suggest it bolsters immune functioning. The typical orgasm will boost the body's T3 and T4 lymphocyte cells--the cells that fight off foreign invaders--by up to 20 percent. In an ongoing study, Ohio University gynecologist Dudley Chapman has followed the progress of women with breast cancer and finds that the frequency of orgasm might aid their health progress; the more climaxes they have, the healthier they are. He discounts the idea that the beneficial impact of orgasm is due to the general love and support given the cancer victims by their lovers because several of the women who improved most live alone and masturbate to orgasm. "I don't want to wave any flags and say [orgasm] cures cancer," Chapman cautions. "Still, I'm optimistic that we're on to something here."

THE SOCIAL SIDE OF SEX The Sex in America survey shows just how strongly societal norms rule bedroom behavior. Sexual impulses are not purely instinctive, untamable and unvarying among most ordinary men and women. Not only does society constrain what we do and with whom we do it, but social dictates affect what we think about and what we find arousing. The survey authors say Americans' sex lives, in large part, follow social "scripts" that influence everything from what's happening when potential sex partners encounter each other casually, to what they find alluring in each other and to their reactions to the impulses those encounters stir. For example, when males listen to the story of a woman entering a room, removing her clothes, a man entering and various activities occurring, they will often be sexually aroused if told the man is her boyfriend. But the same script will not arouse them if told the man is her doctor.

One trouble with scripts is that they can sometimes lead people to act in inappropriate or harmful ways. In general, researchers have found that men are more prone than women to read sexual implications into casual encounters. That may explain the results of a University of New Orleans study that found men thought women had initiated sexual encounters in far more instances than the women themselves said they had. "The survey shows how troubled the relationship between the sexes still is," says Gagnon, because the signals men and women are trying to send each other often get confused.

The power of social scripts also extends to more benign sexual encounters. When instances of rape are not included, research at the University of Kansas suggests that men actually engage in more unwanted sex than women, perhaps because of the societal expectation that men have stronger desires than women and should therefore be more eager for sex. Other evidence shows wives tend to initiate more and more sex as each year of marriage goes by, which might reflect how they are freeing themselves from stigmas against acting on sexual impulses that they picked up when they were younger.

Sometimes, however, basic sexual arousal prevails over societal taboos. For instance, much pornography is so appealing that it has managed to survive from the days of cave drawings and thrives even in today's disapproving society. The Sex in America survey shows that 41 percent of men and 16 percent of women buy erotica in the course of a year. And even though women say they're less turned on by erotica, lab researchers find they are usually just about as aroused as men and even tend to be slightly more "turned on" if the plot features a woman as the main character. But even when breaking the rules, Americans often keep them in mind. Virtually all viewers of pornography prefer highly conventional sex acts between consenting adults and are disturbed by acts that deviate from the norm, according to Clive Davis at Syracuse University.

GOOD SEX, BAD SEX With all the modern folklore about what constitutes great sex, it's easy to forget that for a significant portion of Americans, sex can be the source of deep anxiety if not outright misery. One in 5 women and 1 in 10 men told Sex in America surveyors that sex is not pleasurable for them. The American Urological Association reports that 30 million men a year have trouble with erections, and 20,000 get penile implants to help with their dysfunction. Clinicians say that men also complain about their inability to control the timing of ejaculation, and both sexes routinely report problems with desire. Twenty years ago, such individuals were automatically assumed to be racked with mental problems. "Today the pendulum has shifted to the other extreme, where everything is medicalized," says Raul Schiavi, director of the Human Sexuality Program at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. The reality is that true sexual dysfunction often stems from a mix of mental and physical problems.

An even greater reality is that many of the "problems" that therapists are asked to cure are actually quite normal sexual behaviors. Those patients only need accurate information about the range of sexual normalcy. Even with the abundance of tell-all talk shows and pop sex advice books, therapists still see plenty of men who think they're sick because they masturbate and women who think they're frigid because they can't reach orgasm

every time they have intercourse. "The more research I do, the more I realize how normal most people are and how few realize it," says Donald Strassberg, a sex therapist and psychology professor at the University of Utah. Though most men will ejaculate within two to six minutes with genital stimulation, for example, many feel inadequate if they can't hold out for much longer periods.

One of the most promising areas of research is focused on the sexuality of aging people. Many complain of low desire, and that has created the widespread impression that the golden years mean the end of one's sex life. But work by Helen Singer Kaplan and Richard Cogan at Cornell Medical Center shows that lack of testosterone is often the culprit and that tiny doses of it can return a zesty libido to many women who have lost their drive. (Research on the impact of giving testosterone doses to older men is underway.) "The difference between sexually satisfied and unsatisfied older couples is primarily one of attitude," says Schiavi. "Those who don't cling to unrealistic notions--say that the man should always have a rigid penis--find that sex provides just as much pleasure as ever."

Though fears of sexual deviance or dysfunction are unfounded for the vast majority of the population, there are distinct subgroups with severe sexual sicknesses who do pose a danger to others. Unfortunately, researchers know little about the causes of these problems because they start during childhood or early adolescence years. Since most parents are loath to let researchers near their children to talk about sex, it is likely to take years to unearth the roots of severe deviance.

BEYOND THE MEASURING STICK There are certain aspects of sexuality that survey research and laboratory experiments cannot illuminate, argues therapist Gina Ogden, author of the new book, Women Who Love Sex. She is a kind of anthropologist gathering stories from couples that focus on the emotional side of arousal. Her work centers on people like Judy Tobin, a subject who comes to orgasm without touching herself. That has been confirmed in a lab, but it doesn't reveal much about the role sexuality plays in her life. As it turns out, Tobin was raised as a "good little Jewish girl" to think sex and masturbation were bad. She lived a commonplace life with two kids and two cars in the New Jersey suburbs, until the day she decided she felt dead inside and left her marriage. As she and her second husband, Paul, explored their sexuality, they both discovered capabilities like the ability to "think off" (to come to orgasm through fantasy) or to create orgasmic states just by breathing in certain ways.

For now, one can only guess how many people have secretly experienced phenomena like this. But researchers like Bernie Zilbergeld and Carol Ellison are trying to form a larger picture of the less definable aspects of sex by polling 2,600 women across the nation and allowing for expansive, essay-like answers to questions such as: What exactly do you like about sex? How important is it whether or not you have an orgasm?

Beyond those deeply personal issues lie some enormous social ills that are linked to some aspects of Americans' sexual behavior. The AIDS epidemic and the teen-pregnancy problem have worsened at least in part because of the public's squeamishness about asking basic questions about sex and conveying explicit information about it. The Sex in America survey and other sexuality research projects will do two things. They will help fill gaps in our understanding of how to address these cultural problems. And they will help explain the source of the greatest human pleasure. That's not a bad marriage at all.


SEX IN AMERICA SURVEY Here are some of the major highlights from the University of Chicago pathbreaking sex survey of 3,432 Americans:


ROMANCE HOW MANY PARTNERS:

71 percent of Americans have only one sexual partner in the course of a year. 12 percent have none. Only 3 percent have five or more.

53 percent had one sex partner in the last five years.

Median number of partners since age 18 reported by men: 6; women: 2


HOW OFTEN:

Men: 6.5 times a month; Women: 6.3 times

One third of Americans have sex at least twice a week. A third have sex a few times a month. The final third have sex a few times a year or not at all.

About 40 percent of married people and over half of people living together have sex twice a week. 25 percent of singles living alone have sex that often.

Percentage of people who married without first living together-- Born 1933-42. Men: 84.5, women: 93.8 Born 1963-74. Men: 33.9, women: 35.3


MARRIAGE LIKE ATTRACTS LIKE:

Married couples share many key traits--Same race: 93 percent; Within 5 years in; age: 78 percent; Similar education: 82 percent; Same religion: 72 percent


MARITAL BLISS:

Spouses who enjoy great sexual pleasure: 88 percent

Who enjoy great emotional satisfaction: 85 percent


INFIDELITY:

Wives who have ever had an affair: 15 percent; Husbands: 24.5 percent

37 percent of men in their 50s have had an affair; 12.4 percent of women that age have.

94 percent of married people were faithful in the past year.


ORGASM:

75 percent of men but just 29 percent of women always have an orgasm during sex. 4 percent of women and 1 percent of men never have an orgasm.


HOW LONG SEX LASTS:

Most spend between 15 minutes and an hour having sex. 20 percent of men and 15 percent of women spend over an hour.

Married men are five times more likely than single men to spend 15 minutes or less on sexual intercourse.


PRACTICES TURN-ONS:

The sexual practices that appeal most to Americans: 1. vaginal intercourse 2. watching mate undress 3. receiving oral sex 4. giving oral sex

All other practices, such as group sex or sex with a stranger, appeal to only a small minority of Americans.


MASTURBATION:

The more active your sex life, the more likely it is that you masturbate. 60 percent of men and 40 percent of women masturbated in the past year. Among couples living together, that increases to 85 percent of men and 45 percent of women.

About 25 percent of men and 10 percent of woman masturbate at least once a week.


EROTICA:

41 percent of men and 16 percent of women purchased erotic materials in the past year

THINKING ABOUT SEX:

Every day or several times a day: Men: 54 percent; Women: 19 percent

Once a month or less: Men: 4 percent; Women 14 percent

Men who have paid for sex: 16 percent


PROBLEMS SEXUAL DIFFICULTIES:

Percentage experiencing these problems in past year--

Pain during sex--Men: 3, Women: 14.4

Sex not pleasurable--Men: 8.1, Women: 21.2

Unable to have orgasm--Men: 8.3, Women: 24.1

Lacked interest in sex--Men: 15.8, Women: 33.4

Performance anxiety--Men: 17, Women: 11.5

Climax too early--Men: 28.5, Women: 10.3

Unable to keep erection--Men: 10.4

Had trouble lubricating--Women: 18.8


FORCED SEX:

22 percent of women have been forced to perform a sexual act. 96 percent knew the person who forced them.

Percentage who say the person who forced them to do it was: Someone she loved: 46; Someone she knewwell: 22; Acquaintance: 19; Spouse: 9; Stranger: 4

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES: 16.9 percent have ever had an STD.


POLITICS HOMOSEXUALITY: Just 2.8 percent of men and 1.4 percent of women identify themselves as homosexual or bisexual. But 9 percent of men and over 4 percent of women have had a sexual experience with someone of the same sex since puberty.

Geography matters: More than 9 percent of men in the 12 largest cities say they are gay; 3 percent to 4 percent in the suburbs and 1 percent in rural areas say they are.


SEXUAL PHILOSOPHIES:

Traditional: About one third of Americans (26.9 percent of men, 33.7 percent of women) tend to say their religious beliefs guide their sexual behavior, that homosexuality, premarital and extramarital sex are always wrong.

Relational: Nearly half of Americans (40.1 percent of men and 47.6 percent of women) don't believe that sex has to be reserved for marriage but do insist partners be in love and faithful to one another.

Recreational: A little over a quarter of Americans (33 percent of men and 18.7 percent of women) say that sex doesn't have to have anything to do with love and tend to oppose prohibitive laws, such as bans on pornography.

Hey Nails,

Nice posting..thanks
(not not of my interest since i am NOT in USA)

:P

wow, ill never get done readin'at, its frikken long ..wow.

.
Please read Kinsey or Shere Hites report on Sexuality of men and women that tells you everything with statistics.
How often, front or back, favorite sutras positions, long or short, black or white and ..short or tall, dark hair or red hair, hairy or bald, shaved or natural, pierced or pumped, ...all in details with %..of unhappy men and women..
After reading about ten books from those two authors I came to conclusion like
I tried everything and still I do not understand what is all about.
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http://www.kinseyinstitute.org
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312063865/sr=8-9/qid=1140225492/ref=sr_1_9/104-2179491-0003920?%5Fencoding=UTF8

http://www.hite-research.com
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345352483/qid=1140225553/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-2179491-0003920?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
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After reading about ten books from these two authors I came to a conclusion:

What I learnt is " Sex takes place in our head not down there in dark cave"
Anybody can enjoy it in full degree if you have correct adjustment in our head.
Another Mantra what I learnt is:
Make your mind free from your imaginary exaggeration.
Do not think of the guys in the movies.
Be happy with what you have.
Think of you and yourself and your partner
and
the most important SUTRA is
" Let your body do what it wants"
Do not follow a manual book.
Now your body meets 100% supply of satisfaction.
It is guaranteed.
.