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Sex and OUR city
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The big-screen version of "Sex & the City" opens tomorrow, and while the long-anticipated film may be set in the Big Apple, Indy is proving that New York doesn't have the monopoly on nookie.
According to Men's Health, Indianapolis is the most sexually active city in America. The magazine took into account birth rates, sex toy sales and condom sales, and put the Circle City firmly on top.
This certainly aroused our curiosity. At Indy.com, our thrust is to take things a little deeper -- hence our first-ever sex survey.
Almost 6,000 of you answered our questions online. Thanks for letting us into your bedrooms, your bathrooms, your kitchens, your cars, the rooftops of your parking garages, your walk-in refrigeration units, behind the IUPUI sign on Michigan Avenue, behind the pins at the bowling alley, and um ..... where haven't you guys done the deed?
Some of you have been a little let down by your experiences ("Asking if he is in and his reply is, 'I am done.'"); some of you have been weirded out ("Wanting to read children's stories. Very creepy!"), but all of you -- and all of us here at Indy.com -- have been very stimulated.
Without further ado, here are the survey results. Light some candles, put on some hot music, pour yourself a drink. Indianapolis, let's get it on .....
-- Jenny Elig / Indy.com
Who are you?
The boring-yet-necessary demographic stuff that puts this highly unscientific study into fairly useless context:
Age
18-24: 10 percent.
25-29: 17 percent.
30-34: 17 percent.
35 or older: 56 percent.
Gender
Male: 77 percent.
Female: 23 percent.
Relationship status
Married: 61 percent.
Long-term relationship: 19 percent.
Dating: 13 percent.
Single: 7 percent.
Sexual orientation
Straight: 93 percent.
Bi: 4 percent.
Gay: 3 percent.
Howdy, partner
Most of you can count 'em on one hand: 40 percent said they've slept with a total of one to five partners. A close second: Those who require the use of more than both hands to count: 39 percent have notched in 10-plus.
1-5 partners: 40 percent.
6-10 partners: 19 percent.
More than 10: 39 percent.
Never had sex: 2 percent.
You're honest folk. Or maybe you just like to brag: 76 percent said they would not understate the number of their previous partners in order to persuade someone to have sex with them. ,
You apparently use condoms (or, more cynically, maybe you've just never been tested). Only 15 percent of you say you've ever contracted an STD.
And 4 percent of those admit to a serious sin of omission -- sleeping with someone without disclosing the fact that they had an active STD. "
High school rules!
46 percent of you lost your virginity between the ages of 16 and 18. 23 percent negated your virtue during the college years.
Also:
Lost it at 15 or younger: 18 percent
22 or older: 11 percent.
Still a virgin: 2 percent.
Torn about porn
Make that funny orgasm face for the camera: 24 percent of you have made an at-home sex video. And 7 percent of you suspect you may have been cinematically caught in the act, but aren't sure.
Just because most of you haven't starred in your own skin flick doesn't mean you're against erotic inspiration: 52 percent of you incorporate porn into your sexual experiences.
Where's your curiosity?
Bi-curiosity is not your strong suit. Only 16 percent of you have tackled a member of your own team.
Every day? Come on, now.
Perhaps Men's Health was right. Indianapolis does get it on with admirable frequency. 39 percent of you have sex "several times" a week. 25 percent hit the sheets once a week.
3 percent of you claim to rock the awesome every day, while 25 percent are lucky to get it once a month, if that. And for 8 percent of you: Nunca, nadie, zip.
Southern exposure
It's a tie! 50 percent of you would stay in a relationship with someone who refused to head south; 50 percent of you would head for the door.
Likewise, but not really, 52 percent of you would date someone who's saving him/herself for marriage.
Your cheating heart
Check those collars for lipstick, and cell phones for oft-repeated, unfamiliar numbers: 37 percent of survey-takers cheated on a partner.
40 percent have stepped into that ring of fire -- slinkin' around with a person of the wedding-band persuasion.
In the nude
You're kinda shy when it comes to letting it all hang out in public. Only 11 percent of you have visited a nudist center, camp, beach, etc., or participated in a sanctioned clothing-free event.
But, given the choice of stripping off your skivvies for one of four nude activities -- swimming the Downtown Canal, playing cornhole, trimming the hedges or dancing in front of your open living room window -- 68 percent of you chose to toss open the curtains. Only 11 percent would toss corn-filled beanbags in the buff.
Pillow talk
You've got dirty minds -- and mouths to match. 66 percent of you say things in bed that likely wouldn't be acceptable in polite, non-naked company.
Curb your enthusiasm
It's certainly nice to be enthusiastic upon orgasm, but think twice about shouting "Score!" 35 percent of respondents ranked that as the most intolerable bedroom quirk, compared to an orgasm crier (34 percent), a strict lights-offer (23 percent) and a diehard sock-wearer (8 percent).
Neat is nice
The male preference for "personal deforestation?" 34 percent want their women "trimmed and terrific," followed closely by 32 percent who want the forest totally cleared. 19 percent like the orientation of a landing strip, and 7 percent want to be Tarzan of the jungle.
Guys, cut those nasty toenails. Seriously. 23 percent of women said "long, crusty toenails" were the biggest turnoff, even compared to back hair (12 percent). Sweaty pits and smelly feet earned equal parts derision (10 percent).
Eat it up
The George Costanza question. Most erotic food?
78 percent of you said strawberries whet your appetite for romance. Also lifting your libido: Champagne and oysters (11 percent) and beer (7 percent). 4 percent of you gave props to pastrami.
Sex rules over all
You'd rather be having sex than reading the results of this survey right now. In fact, you'd rather have sex than do anything else. (Then again, it's worth noting that 77 percent of the survey respondents were men.)
We asked: Which of the following activities would you most prefer to do over having sex? And you said:
Shop: 6 percent.
Drink: 9 percent.
Watch sports orplay video games: 6 percent.
Watch TV/movies: 6 percent.
None of the above. I'd rather have sex: 73 percent.
So, then, get to it.
Readers respond on Indy.com to these burning questions...
What's the oddest sexual behavior you've encountered with a partner?
"I am currently dating a guy who loves wearing my lingerie. He gets really turned on by wearing my panties...I love it."
"Wanting to have sex right after we eat a big meal."
"One girl wanted me to have sex with her feet and then pee on them."
"Nothing. I am usually the one who is the oddest."
"He sounded like a girl when he had an orgasm."
"A woman who wanted to be slapped everywhere, even across the face, very hard."
"Wanting to wear hip-waders."
Is there a part of your partner's sexual history that you find difficult to accept?
"He was in a threesome with his very-long-term girlfriend and her best friend. He had sex with both. Kinda wish I didn't know, but I also don't want him to keep anything from me."
"When I found pictures of him and an ex engaged in some acts, I was pretty disturbed. You know he's been with other people, but actually seeing the photographic evidence sucked!"
"Apparently he's dated several strippers."
"He cheated sexually on more than one girlfriend. As far as I know, after 10 years together, he has been faithful to me, but because of his past I can never be 100 percent sure if the situation (were to present) itself."
"Performed certain activities with prior partners but will not with me."
"He's slept with multiple women and had no intentions of being with them."
Where is the strangest place you've ever had sex in the Circle City?
"The hood of a car on a side street."
"In several shops in Union Station."
"In a church, during someone else's wedding."
"In the Biergarten at the Athenaeum."
"In the lion section of the Indy Zoo."
"A stranger's front porch!"
"'Strange' is relative. I like libraries, swimming pools and the dance floor, but in my opinion the time my soon-to-be wife and I had sex out in the open at a concert. She was wearing a long, flowing, loose-fitting dress, we were on acid and while no one could see a thing, we were in plain view. Did I mention it was the Dead at Deer Creek .....?"
"Outside in the snow, by the overpass next to the highway."
"In a car as I was driving around I-465. Yes, I was driving!"
If you could have your time over with your "first," what would you do differently?
"I'd choose to remember it. Sadly, I wasn't under the influence of anything ..... simply very, very, tired."
"Take cough syrup so I didn't cough all night."
"Not get her pregnant."
"Lock the door so her kids couldn't walk in. (She was thirtysomething; I was 17 -- yeah, I'm proud.)"
"Lasted a little longer."
"Yes and no. I am gay and was gay at the time I lost my virginity, but I lost my virginity to a close friend in a heterosexual encounter."
"I would have put the Doritos away."
"Not get caught by my dad."
I want to hear some people fess up to these quotes.
"Lasted a little longer."
That was me! I thought they would like my answer for strangest place.
I posted "He sounded like a girl when he had an orgasm." Thank god that relationship is over. I don't want "him" sounding like "me". It was a bit comical.
"Where is the strangest place you've ever had sex in the Circle City?" One of my favoite questions! Fo me it is a tie between the changing room at Victoria's Secret in Castleton and one of theupper balconies at Embassy Suites during New Years.
I'd really like to know who did it in the biergaarten. I live in DC now, but the Rat was my second home in Indy. I wonder if I was present for that rendezvous :)