Married people bemoan the many responsibilities that put a drain on their sex lives. They look at their single friends and are secretly jealous of the more frequent and better sex they must be having.
However, that’s not the case. The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States, which is pretty much the final word on sexual practices in the US, tells us that, while 23 per cent of single men report not having had sex in the last year, only 1 per cent of married men say the same. Another 25 per cent of single men have only had sex a few times in the past year, compared to only 13 per cent of married men. In fact, a full 43 per cent of married men report having sex at least two to three times a week, compared to only 26 per cent of single men. You see, married men really are having more sex all around. In the UK, The National Survey of Sexual Preference and Lifestyle showed that married people had sex an average of seven times in the previous four weeks, compared to three times in the previous four weeks for everyone.
The numbers for women are similar. In the US, 55 per cent of single women have had sex a few times or less in the past year; only 15 per cent of married women say the same. On the other hand, 39 per cent of married women report having sex at least two to three times a week, compared to only 20 per cent of single women.
Another study, published by the National Opinion Research Center (US) in 2006, looked at the average number of times people had sex in a year. Married people had sex an average of 66.3 times per year, compared to 61.9 times per year for those who were never married. Even amongst those between eighteen and twenty-nine years old, who may be considered the most likely to have sex, those who were married had sex an average of 109.1 times a year, compared to 73.4 times a year in those never married.
Additionally, 75 per cent of married women reported ‘usually’ or ‘always’ achieving orgasm, while only 62 per cent of their single pals said the same. And the benefits of marriage don’t end there – married people are also more likely to give and receive oral sex. While 71 per cent of men reported performing oral sex before marriage, that figure is around 80 per cent for married men. Similarly, only 62 per cent of women reported performing oral sex before marriage and 71 per cent reported performing it while married. Greater percentages of married women and men also report having received oral sex than single women and men.
Married people shouldn’t necessarily envy the sex lives of their single friends – perhaps their single friends should be envying them!