A weekly look at sex and culture, by the numbers.

Men and women were created equal, but they’re by no means the same. When it comes to sex, the differences between our genders are ever apparent. This week’s Sex By Numbers examines our sexual discrepancies—including fantasies, post coital slumber, and online romance scams.

80: Percentage of men who report they easily drift to sleep after having sex. Women, on the other hand, struggle with this, with just 46% reporting that they manage to easily slip into post-coital slumber

2-3: Number of times per month women in a survey reported fantasizing about “pleasant” sexual encounters; men, unsurprisingly, do this much, much more

28: Age at which 2000 British women reported feeling their sexiest, independent from a man’s perception or input

20: In a study that asked men and women to rate their levels of pain for a variety of different conditions—including arthritis and diabetes—women reported pain levels that were 20% higher than that of males

2,600: Number of online romance scams that have been reported to the FBI thus far in 2012. Women fall victim much more frequently than men, filing more than 1,800 of the complaints.

40: Percentage of condom-buyers that are now female. Just five years ago, 80% of condoms were bought by men.

$13,500: Cost of a 24 karat gold-plated vibrator, an indication of the growing market for and interest in women’s sex toys, an arena once dominated by men.

14%: Portion of the wage discrepancy between men and women that Italian researchers posit can be attributed to menstruation.

Image: mexindian

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A weekly look at sex and culture, by the numbers.

9: Fossils of turtle couples that apparently died while mating that were recently discovered in an ancient lake bed in Germany

19cm: Length of a double-headed sex toy that Chinese reporter Ye Yunfeng identified as a “rare mushroom” on national television

$100: Ticket price for a members-only sex party at the Mondrian Hotel in SoHo that was shut down by hotel staff

60 minutes: Length of time a Norwegian sexual health nonprofit has asked local men to spend having protected sex instead of watching the Euro 2012 final in order to raise awareness of STI rates in the region

$1.99: Cost of the newly launched Chec-Mate app, a service that allows users to compare sexual health, recent screening dates and results with partners instantly

$15,400: amount awarded to a 62-year-old man who was fired from his job as a nude artist’s model at Weston College in southern England, while female models were kept on

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A weekly look at sex and culture, by the numbers.

If you’re looking for reasons to feel better or worse about your own sex life (or the value of your home), you’ll find it in this week’s Sex by Numbers.In fact, there’s a little something for everybody.

$9.65 million: asking price for a townhouse featured in Sex and the City

Number of New York sex shops currently fighting a lawsuit from Mayor Bloomberg: 1

1000+: number of sex toys Nat Garvey has tested since becoming an official tester two years ago

2625: Arizona bill that would enable employers to fire women for using contraception

2.5 million: number of gay people in India, according to a recent governmental study

67: percentage of adults who have sex once a week

300: number of daily orgasms for one sufferer of Restless Genital Syndrome

American adult women who have never experienced orgasm either alone or with a partner: 5-10%

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You’ve been waiting a full week for more titillating information on worldy sex facts and they’re back. That’s right, it’s this week’s Sex by Numbers.

Number of sex “mistakes” that heterosexual men make, according to WebMD: 7

$3: value of coupon for admission to New York’s Museum of Sex (for a total admission price of $14.50)

$114: price of a used copy of Madonna’s Sex on Amazon

1: official fragrances released by the Sex Pistols, as of 2010 (which has a “fresh, restless bite of lemon, sharpened and intensified by a defiant black pepper”)

55,000: number of condoms with QR codes recently distributed by Planned Parenthood throughout Western Washington in part of an attempt to create a “map of safe sex”

Percentage of the world’s sex toys made in China: 70

185,000+: monthly pageviews for Xmusic.com, a blog that features “music to have sex to”

10,000: age of oldest known depiction of human genitals, found in the Creswell Crags cave paintings

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Elegant forms, sensual curves, gleaming glamour, completely custom, and unashamedly beautiful. It’s not very often these words dance across the lips when describing a sex toy. I happen to know Made to Pleasure sex toys embody all of these delicious descriptions and a few more that are crucially important – like health and safety.

Each of these sculptural pleasures is organically curved, water-safe, and completely hygienic; solid structure (no buttons or battery compartments) allows for easy and effective cleaning. The materials are “completely body-safe, non-allergenic, and phthalate free.”

There are six Off the Peg options – but the real allure is the Bespoke Made to Measure Boutique. In this interactive and (confession!) somewhat addicting online boutique, you can design the perfect piece, complete with a three dimensional preview and a pragmatic comparison scale (with items like a lipstick tube and a banana – saucy). Customize length, width, convex and concave curves, and choose from a clear glassy finish or decadent precious metal plating, pure gold or pure silver (and you thought you didn’t want silver and gold for Valentine’s Day). Your personal pleasure will be unique and adapted for your individual bliss. The price ranges from £75 – £400, add another £100 pounds for custom pieces. Oh, and each made-to-order pleasure comes with a vibrating bullet.

Is anyone else hoping Cupid (or your significant other) delivers a bespoke boutique delight this year?

(All images from Made to Pleasure.)

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Let me be clear: I have a firm and unshakeable belief in the need to reuse, reduce and recycle whenever possible. But it occurred to me recently that there might be some things – due to their massive and inescapable skeeve factor – that simply should not be rinsed off and put back in the hands of unsuspecting consumers. It seems logical to me to put sex toys at the top of that particular list.

Once something has been used in such a personal and intimate way, the idea of giving it a second go-round is a little off-putting. And yet, it has come to my attention that there is an organization whose sole purpose is to promote and facilitate the recycling of sex toys. According to this company’s website, all you have to do is put your used item into a pouch and drop it into a designated receptacle; it will be retrieved, sterilized (thank God) and remade –  into either a new sex toy or a more general use item – such as underwear, a toothbrush, chopsticks, or patio furniture. For submitting items to be recycled, you are rewarded with a discount on your next purchase.

For the record, I am not a prude. I do not think that sexual enhancement products are just for floozies and sinners; I wholeheartedly support those who use titillating trinkets as part of an adult relationship. But I shudder to think that a battery-powered rubber device that was once part of an illicit three-way in a sketchy motel could somehow be reincarnated as my toothbrush.

In the interest of propriety I will not go into detail about the products that qualify for this exchange program – suffice to say that most of them will have taken a wild ride through bodily fluids. It’s hard to imagine that mere sterilization could make such objects clean enough for certain uses. I could probably live with the idea that a deconstructed sex toy had been recycled into an ink cartridge or a garbage bag, but I honestly cannot imagine one landing on my table as a chopstick.

This unwelcome knowledge is causing me to cast a wary eye on the recycled items I currently use. I have been struck with this uncomfortable thought: Is someone else’s refurbished vibrator in my house at this very minute? Intellectually I know that recycled products are entirely clean. But emotionally I am not OK with this. Suddenly I find myself wondering about those self-righteously eco brown paper towels: where have they been, exactly?

This sex-toy thing will absolutely not stop me from purchasing recycled items. But you know those black lights they use on CSI to illuminate bodily fluids at a crime scene? I may have to invest in one.

Image: Chrysaora

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