A new survey just revealed that men really don't know what they're talking about when it comes to women and sex.
A new survey by Ipsos, a marketing research company, revealed that men and women are both way off when it comes to knowing about the opposite gender's sex life.
The survey was completed in October of 2017 and questioned 1,000-1,500 people in both the US and UK each. The age range of those surveyed was between 16-64.
In the US, women guessed that men had sex, on average, 13 times a month. The reality? Not even 4 times a month.
But even more off-kilter was that men guessed that women had sex 23 times a month. While women do have more sex than men, apparently, the average was just shy of 6 times a month.
People were also asked their thoughts on the average number of sexual partners.
Women weren't far off, guessing that men have an average of 18 sexual partners by the time they are 45-54. They were just one number shy, with the men's average being 19 partners by that age.
Again, men were way off-base saying that women had an average of 27 sexual partners by age 45-54. The real average was less than half of the guess, at 12 partners.
While the first reaction might be to chuckle at the obvious example of the "women are from Venus, men are from Mars" illustration, the results are very telling.
Chris Jackson, a spokesperson for Ipsos said,
"It's interesting that this misperception is so profound. It really illustrates the extent to which men really don't understand female sexuality,"
Hannah Brancato is a cofounder of FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture, a "creative activist collaboration to upset the culture of rape and promote a culture of consent". She said,
"It made sense that there would be a perception by men — male-identified people — that women are having more sex than they're having based on how we're sexualized in the media and pop culture. "In a rape culture, we're told that we don't have control over our bodies. Part of that control has to do with, in the case of this study, the assumptions that are made about women's sexuality."
People don't know whether to find it entertaining...
... or to be concerned.
The findings are to be published in a book called The Perils of Perception. See some of the results for yourself here.
Ipsos
Ipsos
H/T: BuzzFeed News, Daily Mail
@elleuk/Instagram
@elleuk/Instagram
