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September 08, 2009, 12:00 PM ET

Book About the Boring Sex Lives of College Students Is Sure to Be a Best Seller

Over 24 years, 7,236 students in Bob Altemeyer’s intro-psychology courses at the University of Manitoba filled out anonymous surveys about their sex lives. Mr. Altemeyer, now retired, has published the results of his research in a book, Sex and Youth.

His findings: One-night stands are fairly uncommon, oral sex is rare, and the missionary position is preferred. (Wait, did he mix up the students' results with the administrators'?)

Comments

1. madamesmartypants - September 08, 2009 at 04:46 pm

Katha Pollitt wrote a column a few years back about a survey that similarly concluded that all Americans--not just students--have pretty boring sex lives. Sounds like the Puritans live on!

2. jlowery - September 08, 2009 at 04:47 pm

I hope that he has as fun a cover as some of the earlier books on this subject like Sex Histories of American College Men (1960).

3. 22113683 - September 08, 2009 at 09:16 pm

I doubt that it has much to do with the Puritans, or, for that matter, with the Victorians (who make the Puritans look pretty laid back).

1. Intro-Psych probably is primarily freshmen and sophomores, who undoubtedly have active fantasy lives but haven't figured out how to turn fantasy into reality.

2. It's just possible that students at U. of Man. spend their evenings and weekends (gasp!) STUDYING. I know, I know; it's improbable; but I HAVE heard of schools where that happens.

3. These students are Canadians, after all, and not hot-blooded Californians wearing bikinis to class. Mukluks and parkas are much less, um, stimulating.

4. And the missionary position is a pretty darn good one!

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