ARE you confused by sex? I certainly am.
One
of the many reasons sex is puzzling is that we lack reliable data.
People lie to friends, lovers, doctors, surveys and themselves.
Three
years ago, when I was a graduate student in economics, I began to write
about how new data, particularly Google searches, could give us fresh
insights into socially sensitive topics. Since then, many people have
asked me to write about sex.
I
was wary because I wanted to do more research. Now I’m finally ready to
report. Call it everything you always wanted to know about sex, but
didn’t have the data to ask.
Let’s start with the basics. How much sex are we having? Traditional surveys are no good at answering this question.
I
analyzed data from the General Social Survey, a classic source.
Heterosexual men 18 and over say that they average 63 sex acts per year,
using a condom in 23 percent of them. This adds up to more than 1.6
billion heterosexual condom uses per year.
Heterosexual
women say they average 55 sex acts per year, using a condom in 16
percent of them. This adds up to about 1.1 billion heterosexual condom
uses per year.
Who is telling the truth, men or women?
Neither. According to Nielsen, fewer than 600 million condoms are sold every year.
Americans
may also be exaggerating how often they have unprotected sex. About 11
percent of women between the ages of 15 and 44 say they are sexually
active, not currently pregnant and not using contraception. Even with
relatively conservative assumptions about how many times they are having
sex, we would expect 10 percent to become pregnant every month. But
this would already be more than the total number of pregnancies in the
United States (which is one in 113 women of childbearing age).
Men
who have never been married claim to average 29 condom uses per year.
This is more than the total number of condoms sold in the United States
to married and single people combined.
