Most likely, at least once in your life you’ve wondered how long a normal sexual act should last so that you don’t feel painfully ashamed later. So, it turned out that scientists were worried about the same question!
For the sake of purity of the experiment, the scientists decided to put pre-caresses in parentheses and consider the process of sex as sex immediately from the moment of penis penetration into the vagina to the moment of ejaculation.
How long should sex last?
It turned out that measuring the duration of sexual intercourse is not so easy. At least because many men tend to exaggerate numbers in order not to be in the league of laggards. Well, some people do it unwittingly. I don’t think you’ve often timed yourself before making love (unless you’re paying by the hour). Therefore, it is not always possible to tell with the accuracy needed by scientists (and who will blame you if you rounded up a little in your favor?).
But scientists nevertheless do not give up! The study, published on the website of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, involved 500 couples from the United States, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom. For four weeks, they had sex, timing the time with a stopwatch, combining pleasure with the benefits of science.
The result surprised the scientists. The range of duration of sexual intercourse ranged from 33 seconds to 44 minutes, which is a difference of 80 times!
Thus, it turned out to be impossible to answer the question of what duration of sexual intercourse is considered normal. But you can calculate the average duration. And it was 5.4 minutes in all countries (except Turkey, the average duration of sexual intercourse there is 3.7 minutes).
There were other interesting conclusions. It turned out that using a condom does not affect the duration, as well as whether a man’s foreskin is circumcised. All this destroys the prevailing stereotypes about the decreased or increased sensitivity of the penis. In addition, it turned out that the sex of mature couples lasts much less than that of young ones, contrary to the stereotype that older men can do it for hours. Most likely, they are the ones spreading these rumors.
It is also quite difficult to explain the duration of sexual intercourse from an evolutionary point of view. Indeed, why do you need to make all these movements and especially take a girl to the theater before that?
Before you answer “because it feels good,” scientists want to remind you that evolution, by and large, doesn’t give a damn. For example, even though you enjoy a good steak, you won’t chew it for five minutes to prolong the pleasure.
The answer to the question may be hidden in the very shape of the penis. In 2003, scientists from the University of Albany in Washington (USA) conducted another study. Using artificial genitals and artificial ejaculate (which served as corn syrup) They prepared a visual experiment showing that during friction, the groove around the head of the penis actually pushes fluid out of the vagina. Thus, if someone else has been there before you, your penis will make sure that the last genetic material is yours.
Hopefully, you’ll be able to avoid thinking about it during sex now.