CNN.com is reporting today that the optimal length of sex averages between 3 and 13 minutes. This study was conducted by a group of sex therapists and included 1,500 couples for 4 weeks. Women were equipped with stop watches to record the time that they had sex. This time, however, does not include foreplay. Any time short than 3 minutes and the couples complained that it was merely too short.
I find this article interesting for one main reason: the image that we all have of sex from the media. Americans seem to accept the idea that the longer the sexual encounter the better. However, this study finds that couples don't generally take a long time to have sex, and that it is preferable to finish in under 15 minutes. Where did the notion of marathon sex originate and when did Americans begin accepting it as the norm? Not only that, but are couples dissatisfied with their own sexual relationships if they last only 8 minutes opposed to the insatiable porn star? Do we think that everyone else is lasting for much longer? I think that this study is important to sexually active individuals because it tells them that they should not base their sex on what everyone else is doing, since most of the time "what everyone else is doing" isn't a particularly accurate account of what really goes on behind our closed doors.
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