Year in Review – Top Sex Questions of 2007

When I am interviewed about sex by the mainstream media I’m usually called on to talk about what I know about other people’s sex lives. What are they doing, what are they worried about, what are they going to do next? The folly of answering these questions is, of course, that interviewers rarely specify which people they are talking about, and even if they did, our current understanding of sexuality in the general public is woefully inadequate. We know a lot about individual sexual expression but I trust survey research on sexual behavior about as far as I can throw it (and for the purposes of this point pretend it’s REALLY heavy research).

But whenever I get even a small and slanted window into the sex lives of others I like to share it. Not as an example of what’s on everyone’s mind, but as a starting point for one of the thousands of conversations we should be having about sex. In reviewing the most frequently asked and most commonly read sex Q & A’s from 2007 on this site I noticed that only three were also on the 2006 list. I also noticed that I’ve had more questions this year about sexual concerns and anxieties than about sexual pleasure (although the two aren’t entirely unrelated). And while I was happy to see that g-spot questions have settled down, I was disappointed to receive as many if not more questions about penis size than last year.

Sex and circumcision
Questions from parents-to-be trying to determine what if any lasting effects circumcision will have, people emailing to find out if it’s possible to reverse their circumcision, and the inevitable angry responses from men and women on both sides who feel that one is 100% better than the other.

Vibrator addiction
Now that we are three years post-Sex in the City I would have thought the “Charlotte effect" had waned. I was wrong.

Are sex toys safe?
At the end of last year Petra Boynton correctly predicted that sex toy safety would be a hot topic in 2007. Judging by the amount of media exposure and the number of questions I received, I’d say she got it right.

Penis size
A perennial favorite. Interestingly, the bulk of the penis-too-small emails come from men and the majority of penis-too-big emails come from women.

Sex and infertility
Figuring out a way to keep having sex, and keep enjoying sex, when dealing with fertility issues is a huge challenge. One benefit of the seemingly constant media attention to this subject is that more people are asking questions. Most of the questions I receive are about trying to get back to good sex.

Masturbation
The majority of masturbation questions this year focused on problems, from people wondering about the negative effects of masturbation to those worried they’re doing it too much.

STDs and oral sex
Last year there were a few high profile stories and studies about sexually transmitted diseases and oral sex, but I guess it took some time to sink in, since this year I received significantly more questions about this than any other STD related topic.

Orgasms
We’re brainwashed to believe orgasm is the best part of sex, and each year I receive lots of questions about improving orgasms. But this year the biggest change came in the number of questions about different, unexpected, or unlikely orgasms. Maybe we have Gray’s Anatomy to thank for that.

_{Photo credit: Gary S Chapman/Getty Images}