Research in Praise of the Quickie
by Heather Setrakian | August 7th, 2008This research takes the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses” to a whole new level. Eric Corty and Jenay Guardiani, researchers at Penn State Erie, recently conducted a survey of 50 members of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research. Members of this academic society include psychologists, physicians, nurses, marriage and family therapists, and social workers. They were asked to rate a range of time spans for heterosexual intercourse, from penetration to ejaculation, that they considered adequate, desirable, too short and too long.
The average therapists’ responses defined the ranges of intercourse activity times:
- “adequate,” from 3-7 minutes;
- “desirable,” from 7-13 minutes;
- “too short” from 1-2 minutes;
- “too long” from 10-30 minutes.
Corty and Guardiani published the results of their study in the May issue of Journal of Sexual Medicine. “With this survey, we hope to dispel such fantasies and encourage men and women with realistic data about acceptable sexual intercourse, thus preventing sexual disappointments and dysfunctions,” said lead author and Penn State professor Eric Corty. The survey’s research also has implications for treatment of people with existing sexual problems. “If a patient is concerned about how long intercourse should last, these data can help shift the patient away from a concern about physical disorders so they may be initially treated with counseling, instead of medicine,” Corty noted.
I have several questions that I’m curious to have answered. The conclusions of these surveys seem a bit (ahem) premature. The sample size is unreasonably small for generalizability. I’m wondering if these questions only represent the answers of the medical/ psychological professionals, and not the population at large. What about the time itself? Does anyone else see the overlap of “desirable” sex and sex that lasts “too long?” Those seem like crucial minutes. It also seems like the range of time was based on the male orgasm, and not the female orgasm. Were participants asked to rate the range based on a certain level of satisfaction that the woman achieved? What was the gender breakdown of the participants, anyway? There are so many elements that make up the quality of sex, that duration alone cannot really be separated from the rest. Five minutes of mind-blowing quality sex I imagine would be better than thirteen of the “counting ceiling tile” variety.
I applaud the researchers’ goal of helping to ease stigma surrounding sexual satisfaction, and I hope they address some of these potential limitations to their work.
Further Reading:
Corty, E.W., Guardiani, J.M. (2008). Canadian and American Sex Therapists’ Perceptions of Normal and Abnormal Ejaculatory Latencies: How Long Should Intercourse Last?. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 5(5), 1251-1256. DOI: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2008.00797.x
Penn State (2008, April 2). Good Sexual Intercourse Lasts Minutes, Not Hours, Therapists Say. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 29, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2008/03/080331145115.htm
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December 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 am
I have seen this study mischaracterized in the mainstream media, mostly because they were too timid to specify the definition of intercourse given above. In fact, I would take some issue with the title of the article: while it makes for a good teaser, it does not represent the research here, which explicitly omitted any discussion of foreplay. There was no discussion of how much foreplay accompanied the narrowly-defined act of intercourse whose duration was classified by the researchers. A ‘quickie’ would include little or no foreplay, and that was not necessarily the case here (we don’t know, because that information was not excluded by the study)
I do agree with Ms Setrakian’s comments on the size of the population in this survey. Hopefully, because these folks have formed their opinion based on years of experience with clients/patients, and we have something of a Delphic effect. A broader survey would certainly be of interest. I would suggest that eHarmony labs conduct such a survey, but eHarmony surveys tend to be of self-selecting populations, and therefore subject to bias.
Also, Ms Setrakian makes a point that the female partner’s satisfaction is not addressed. That seems to be by design in this study, which seems aimed at counseling men with actual or perceived coital problems. No attention seems to have been paid to whether women partners achieved orgasm before, during, or after, the act of intercourse; apparently because that was outside the goal of the study. This is also deserving of study.
February 13th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
10 minutes is generally pretty good. Once a week throw in a half hour session just for fun on a saturday night.
I do think there is something conspiratorial and fun about a quickie that should never be discounted.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:14 am
I could use a quickie here and there but to no avail. I need help!