The world runs on food  and sex; and of course, it is sexual activity that eventually effects our need to grow more food.  China is the world leader in procreation with a current population of 1.3 billion however, India, will eventually overtake China for first position.  There is no doubt that sex is the world’s greatest past time, it even beats out soccer.  However, it appears that it is the male of our species that is pushing the envelope of sexual activity.   And surveys continue to demonstrate that men think about sex much more than women.  But this should not come as a surprise since women do not have the male physical mechanisms  which pushes for semen release.  In other words, much of the world’s sexual activity is being promoted by males.  This may be news to men, but certainly not to women who would rather have a bit of chocolate than a toss in the hay.

Women have sexual urges much like men, but their sexual arousal is brought about by a much wider selection of stimuli.   Unlike the testosterone driven male, women’s sexual desire may actually be generated by a type of narcissism that is reinforced when a male is in sexual pursuit.  Clearly what men or women want in the way of sexual activity or relationships is not gender specific .  Human sexual activity may run on male testosterone, but it is directed by individual preferences, regardless of gender.

Asking what is normal in the sexual arena is not much different than asking what is normal behavior in regards to ‘washing a car’.  They are simply an aggregate of behaviors.  Some behaviors in our culture have age related consequences, such as drinking underage.  Some behaviors are simply socially unacceptable regardless of age, such as murder.  Being an acting out pedophile is socially unacceptable behavior and no different than acting upon a desire to murder.  Both the pedophile and the murderer regulate their own behavior and neither one is suffering from a disease causing the behavior.  The desires may cause mental anguish (and therefore treated as an illness)  but it is the behavior, and not the desire that is regulated by society.  The two most regulated areas of sexual activity, are prostitution and pornography.

A broadband study (in the US) of pornography site users demonstrated that Utah and parts of Louisiana and Alabama lead the states in paid subscriptions to porn web sites.  The study also demonstrates a slightly higher subscription rate for states having conservative legislation on sexuality.  In comparison  Utah had the highest consumer rate (per 1000) of pornography and Montana had the lowest. If pornography generates rape, it cannot be demonstrated by the statistics across states kept by the Bureau of Justice.  Utah had 39 rape cases (per 1000) while Alaska had 80 and the lowest being New Jersey with 15 per 1000 (keep in mind that rape is notoriously unreported in all states).  Rape is an act of violence, using sexual activity as a weapon whereas pornography is a form of sexual activity.  A most comprehensive look at this type of data across countries can be found at knowledgerush.com .

A cross cultural look at the frequency of sex ,by Durex (condom manufacturer), demonstrates Eastern Europeans are the most sexually active and the average rate of having sex is 2 to 3 times per week.  A not so surprising result of their study shows that nearly half the women surveyed admit to faking orgasms:  a wonderful  parody (view the video it is really funny) of this was done on The Jerry Seinfeld TV show. 

There are some sexual techniques that are worth investigating, especially if your sex life is getting a bit dull.  Tantric methods are scatter across the net, and have been shown to re-vitalize a couple’s sex life.  Sex is a wonderful gift but remember, practice safe sex.