Inductivist

While I am no expert, I keep on eye on sex research. The latest study to get media attention is the controversial study by Lisa Littman that suggests that peer influence might contribute to the epidemic of troubled girls saying they're actually boys.  

I'm not interested in weighing into the issue: My point is a more general one. This episode merely illustrates what I see every day: Sex researchers are obsessed with studying oddities and simply don't give a shit about what constitutes a healthy sexuality for the 90 plus percent of the population of kids, teens and adults who are typical sexually. The academy, and elites in general, do not give a shit about you. 

This new, large meta-analysis of 761 effects sizes with a sample of over 400k people looks at the relationship between personality traits sand sexuality. 

People who score high on neuroticism (the tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety) are less sexually satisfied (r = .18) and have more symptoms of sexual dysfunction (r = .16). 

Extraverts engage in more sexual activity (r = .17) and risky sexual behavior (r = .18) and have less sexual dysfunction (r = −.17). 

People who are open to experience are more likely to be homosexual (r = .16) and to have liberal attitudes toward sex (r = .19). 

Highly agreeable and conscientious (i.e., self-disciplined) people are less sexually aggressive (r = −.20; r = −.14) and are less like to be unfaithful (r+ = .18; r+ = .17). 

So, if you're looking for a trustworthy partner who enjoys sex, your best bet is to find a person who is even-keeled, cooperative, and diligent. 

By the way, these traits are highly influenced by genes, so don't assume you can change someone into a desirable partner. A major theme among people who take genes seriously is, what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG).

According to this meta-analysis, gender differences in sexuality have shrunk over the past 20 years. Here are some of their results. A positive statistic indicates a male advantage:

Gender differences--Cohen's d

Heterosexual intercourse frequency .16
Number of sex partners .36
Age at first intercourse .20
Oral sex .06
Anal sex .09
Extramarital sex .33
Masturbation .53
Pornography use .63
Attitude toward premarital sex .17
Attitude toward extramarital sex .01
Attitude toward masturbation .02
Feelings of guilt -.19
Sexual satisfaction .17
Attitude toward homosexuality -.18
Same-sex sexuality -.05

Except for masturbation and pornography use, the differences now appear to be fairly small or even non-existent in some areas. Findings suggest that gender differences in sexuality can be shaped substantially by environmental factors. Women can be influenced to be more or less like men.

It's amusing how liberals like Rachel Maddow in this video are trying to make Christine O'Donnell look ridiculous by showing how she criticized masturbation on MTV in 1996. Right--if you really want to be cool, you need to jerk off. As often as possible. It's just about the coolest thing you can do.

But I see here a chance to weigh in with data. I can't find any raw data on "solo sex" but the General Social Survey does ask people if they have watched an X-rated movie in the past year.  Here are the percentages of men and women who have cheated on their spouse (sample size = 12,256):


Percent who ever cheated

White male
Watched movie 31.4
Did not watch 17.9

White female
Watched movie 24.6
Did not watch 11.7

Black male
Watched movie 47.8
Did not watch 31.3


Black female
Watched movie 25.6
Did not watch 16.4

For all demographic groups, those who watch porn are much more likely to have been unfaithful. There's a message there for guys looking for a wife: If she's into porn, there's a greater chance that she's not into monogamy.

Who knows the cause-effect relationship here--super-sexual folks are probably more likely to cheat and consume lots of porn--but, with respect to masturbation, Steven Pinker explains that there is a planning element to fantasizing. A sexual fantasizer gets aroused by asking himself, how would I get together with her?