They’re questions that have plagued people for centuries: How long are most people having sex? How long should sex last?
Pop culture would have you believe that everyone is having hours-long marathon sex sessions. In 2012, Olivia Wilde said that she and Jason Sudeikis have sex like “Kenyan marathon runners.” Kanye West once reportedly stopped the publication of two different versions of a sex tape that TMZ got its hands on. However, when TMZ reported on the incident, its editors focused on the fact that one of the versions depicted West having sex for 20 minutes while the second showed him and his partner going at it for 40 straight minutes. And in a 2015 piece, the Cut reported that when surveyed, most people say they would like sex to last 30 minutes. (For the record: I think 30 minutes is debatable. Anything over 40 minutes is too long. It’s true, don’t @ me.)
Well, according to a new poll, all those people – I’m looking at you, Olivia Wilde – are lying. Lovehoney, a British sex toy retailer, surveyed 4,400 people and found that on average, people are only having sex for 19 minutes, 10 of which are foreplay. While 23 per cent of men surveyed said they thought sex was over too soon, only 15 per cent of women wanted it to last longer. (I told you: TOO LONG.) 52 per cent of those surveyed said that 19 minutes was the perfect amount of time for them, and 89 per cent said they have managed to orgasm at the same time at least once. 40 per cent said they orgasm at the same time as their partner at half the time.
There you have it. Rest assured that you’re definitely not the only one keeping things short and sweet.
This article was originally published on MensHealth.com
