Sex: the Streetbees survey
We spoke to over 3,000 of our users to find out what sex looks like in 2018
What do our sex lives say about us? Do people with multiple partners enjoy sex more? Is quality compromised for quantity when it comes to frequency? Are those that associate sex with marriage more giving than the casual lover?
We spoke to over 3,000 users — our ‘bees’ — across our global community to find out.
Whether with 1 or with 50, most people think sex is great!
Generally speaking, people overwhelmingly enjoy having sex! Although men (90%) said they liked it more than women (79%).
This figure is the case regardless of number of sexual partners. For those that have had just one sexual partner, 83% say they enjoy sex, while for those that claim over 30+ partners, this figure is a near identical 84%.
Even for those that associate sex with marriage (82%) and having babies (79%), associations more centred around duty and responsibility, satisfaction remains around 8 in 10. This is very similar to those that claim a more free-spirited approach to sex — those that associate it with casual encounters (83%) and experimentation (85%).
However, enjoyment levels do vary with frequency. In general, the more someone has sex, the more likely they are to enjoy it.
Just can’t get enough
But what about all the activities around sex? Is watching porn and masturbation the reserve of those that have a solitary sexual partner and need an escape? Well, no.
We found the more sexual partners someone has drastically increases their likelihood of watching porn, masturbating and using sex toys.
For those who claim 30+ sexual partners, 75% say they masturbate regularly, 59% watch porn and 49% use sex toys.
These numbers decrease in line with the number of sexual partners people have had. For example, of those with 5 or less partners, 41% masturbate regularly, 39% watch porn and 13% use sex toys.
People with many sexual partners have sex far more frequently also. Of those who have had 30+ partners, 66% have sex at least once a week, but this rate falls for those with 21+ partners (64%), 6–20 (58%) and 5 or less (50%).
Even the frequency by which people talk about sex drops like clockwork in line with the number of sexual partners. (Perhaps the more sexual partners someone has increases the pool of people they talk to about sex?)
Meanwhile, we also found that people who associate sex with marriage are about half as likely to partake in ‘solo’ sexual activities, like watching porn (33%), masturbating (37%) or using sex toys (11%), than those that associate sex with casual encounters.
However, both groups are equally uncommitted to ensuring their partners enjoy themselves. Only 1 in 5 (21%) associated ‘fulfilling my partner’s needs’ with the act of having sex.
And finally… in a society “obsessed” with it, some don’t like sex that much
Perhaps that selfishness is in part why we found groups of people who say they don’t enjoy sex all that much (4% of men and 7% of women surveyed). But is there anything particularly different or unusual in the behaviours of this tiny minority?
Those that don’t enjoy sex have it less than those who do enjoy it — but not a whole lot less. Roughly about 1 in 3 (35%) of this group still have sex once a week. Men who say they don’t enjoy sex still masturbate and watch porn in similar numbers to those that do enjoy it.
However, women who don’t enjoy sex are less likely to partake in solo activities. They are 40% less likely to watch porn and 25% less likely to masturbate than women who do enjoy sex.
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A quick word on our methodology: The figures in the article are taken from Streetbees community members in UK, US, India, Kenya, the Philippines and South Africa, carried out in July 2018. All of the data was collected by mobile and web surveys, and is accurate to within 4 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
