(4/14/14) It’s the classic conundrum: What do men really want when it comes to sex? Scientists, marketing gurus, comedians and just plain average folks alike have been trying to nail that down for years with some success, but mostly mixed results. Let’s face it: It’s a subject that’s easy to stereotype or misinterpret. Even when there’s some measure of empirical data, its validity is usually suspect due to ego-friendly skewing (i.e., the potential that respondents may answer with what they wish was the case vice what’s actually happening out there). Indeed, people are funny animals that way, but it’s still fun to try to crack the nut.
Anyway, the friendly folks at Insidehook, who are admittedly laser focused on all things testosterone-packed, surveyed about 10,000 men around the country this past January and just published their “State of Sexual Satisfaction” results for 2014. Taking the results at face value, there are definitely some interesting trends according to the report. Let’s venture a peek.
In looking at their overall sex lives on a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being “not satisfied” and 10 being “satisfied”), only 10% of men in a relationship offered up top ratings while 21% of single men claim to be supremely satisfied. There’s a bit of irony in those figures, however, when comparing them to reported frequency stats as men in a relationship are more likely to have sex several times a week (47%) than single men (29%). Is this a quality over quantity thing in action? Or are singles just genuinely more satisfied with less? It would definitely be interesting to pull at that thread a little.
Another intriguing tidbit has to do with the ubiquitous porn bin. While a solid majority (82%) of men admit to watching it with varying degrees of habit, about half (49%) claim that it has no effect whatsoever on their lives while more than a quarter (28%) believe that watching porn helps them to be better at pleasing their lover. This contrasts with 15% who believe it creates unrealistic expectations and 8% who employ porn outright as a “dating substitute.” (Anyone else itching to tug at that thread some more?)
Regarding what men claim they’re most self-conscious about when naked, frankly the results do appear to be a bit suspect, but the majority (43%) apparently have issues with their stomachs while 39% state that they’re “too busy looking at her” to be self-conscious. (Uh huh. Okay. Umm, good answer, guys!) At the other end of the spectrum, it’s interesting to find that less than 10% voiced a concern about their penis, but it’s probably best not to tug more on that one.
As for what men are generally looking for as a “perfect mate,” the survey results lean to “attractive” and “smart” as top qualities (“successful” and “cooks” were in last place) while “rudeness” and “unattractiveness” were rated as absolute dealbreakers. Additionally, only 1% of men responding claimed they’d have no interest in a partner who didn’t like their sports team. Surely there’s some sort of nugget in that little detail.
The report goes on to cover most of the standard things one might expect to find in this sort of project, but what’s most interesting is that the source is openly by men, about men, for men. As such, it’s reasonable to presume that the majority of their viewers would be men inclined to see how they stack up against other men. We’ll go ahead and pass up the obvious euphemism there and, instead, just politely point out the positive: It’s an opportunity for everyone to get an updated glimpse into what men want–or, at least, what they say they want–when it comes to sex. Even if you take it with a warranted grain of salt, we’d love to hear what you think.