Esquire and Marie Claire magazine recently hooked up to conduct a poll which gives insight into the sexual habits and beliefs of Americans. Here are some of the interesting highlights of the poll:

On average, men have sex 2.6 times per week, and women have sex 2.3 times per week. Single men in monogamous relationships have significantly more sex than married men, 4.5 times versus 2.7 times per week. Another interesting thing is that a man’s financial status is also correlated with the frequency he has sex, the more money men make, the more sex they have.

The average number of daters before having sex is 5 for women, and 3 for men. Men have had an average of 14 partners in their lifetime, and women have an average of 11. About 40% of men and women have had fewer than 5 partners in their lifetime; 10% of men and 5% of women have had 50 or more partners.

Men, surprisingly, have gone, on average, longer without having sex. The average longest period that men have gone without sex is 19 months, and for women its about 16 months. 35% of both men and women have gone without sex for more than 1 year, and 13% of men and 7% of women have gone without it for 5 years or more.

Men masturbate on average 4.9 times per week, while women admit to just 2.8 times per week. 15% of men have paid for sex, another 10% said they would try it, and just 1% of women say they have paid for sex.

If given the choice between sacrificing sleep or sex, 61% of women say they’d rather lose sex, and 65% of men would rather give up sleep.

Interested in reading more? Check out the full poll results at Esquire.com.

According to a new Canadian study conducted by researchers at Simon Frasier University, simply having sex makes women feel sexier. Testosterone levels are raised in both men and women, straight or gay, when they engage in intercourse. However, it has another affect on women - it fuels their desire for more sex, increases their chance of orgasm, and heightens believe in their own sexiness.

The researchers came to these conclusions after examining the testosterone levels in women before and after cuddling, sex, and exercise. What they found was that the women experienced higher levels of the testosterone hormone just before and after cuddling and sex. They also found that the larger the increase in testosterone levels, the better the chance that the women had an orgasm and the more likely they were to feel sexually attractive the next day.

So girls, next time you want to feel sexy, you don’t have to go out and buy a new sexy outfit - just have sex! And, better yet, the more sex you have, the more you’ll want.

Men dating women who are significantly younger has pretty much been an acceptable practice for years, however, older women dating younger men has not been as well accepted. This is because, as we are told growing up, that women mature faster than men. I personally don’t think that it is that easy to sum up the whole situation with such a sweeping generalization. I can name a number of 30 year-old women who are far less mature than some 22 year-old women that I know. Just as I can name some 30 year-old men who are a bit more mature than say a 38 year-old.

Another thing I find interesting is that the “acceptable” age range for dating varies significantly between different people. For me, at the age of 23 with my next birthday creeping up in the next few weeks, I would have to say that if I were available for dating, I could go for the 23 to 36 range. A twelve year difference would be where I’d cap it off. Anything much older than that, and the man would be old enough to be my father. I dated a guy once very briefly who was a year younger than me, and I doubt I’ll ever be trying that again. I’ve also never been very much into dating people my own age either. I’ll leave it to you psychoanalysts out there to figure out why.

But back to the acceptable age ranges. What is acceptable to me, probably isn’t to someone else. Like my aunt, for example. She thinks it is completely crazy to date any one who is more than a few years older. To me, that is a bit close-minded, but I know of plenty of other people who share a similar mentality to her. Some women might be comfortable dating a much younger man, but much of society frowns up this practice.

For the most part, I believe in the live and let live philosophy. If two people are happy with eachother, who am I to say that their relationship or age difference is not normal or appropriate? As long as both parties are consenting, legal adults, then what’s the problem? On the other hand though, I do think there are some instances when age should be a concern. One instance that comes to mind is when either of the two parties starts treating the other as if they are some kind of prize or object to be had, or if one of the two starts to assume a sort of parental role to the other. That kind of mentality is not healthy, and doesn’t bode well for the future of the relationship. Another cause for concern would be having drastically different expectations. Things like having or not having children can be an issue in some relationships with significant age differences.

So, what are you thoughts on the age issue? I find it to be very interesting people’s different perspectives and thoughts on this issue.

Getting stuck in traffic is one of the most frustrating things known to man. Other than sit there listening to your music, making some calls on your cell, and staring at the heap of cars ahead of you, there’s not much you can do. And one of the last things you’d ever think you could do while waiting is dating.

Flirting in Traffic is a new online dating site that that allows you to chat with others while you’re stuck in traffic. Members of the site place stickers with their IDs on their bumpers, and if you happen to spot one or see someone you like, all you need to do is take down their ID or commit it to memory, and them look them up on site.

Hey, at least you’ll know if they drive a nice car and look cute… most online dating sites can’t say the same. I’m assuming this site will work best in large cities with heavy traffic, say like in California.

In the online dating world, men are severely outnumbered by females, giving them a better shot of finding a love connection. Women, on the otherhand, are experiencing a shortage of men and often times have a more difficult time. This information was gathered by the datafirm Hitwise, which tracked the type of traffic online dating websites received.

Other interesting information that the results revealed where that dating websites with longer questionairres were more likely to have a significantly higher number of women than men. The most popular dating sites amongst men involved few questions, and more of a focus on pictures. Men tend to be more visually oriented, so I guess this can’t be too surprising. Another odd thing that was found was that the higher the price it cost to join or utilize the site’s services, the more women there would be. Men, it seems, aren’t willing to shell out a whole lot of money to find that special someone.

Bill Tancer, Hitwise’s general manager of global research, said:

“The more money and time involved in signing up to a dating site, the more the site would skew female. And, the more free pictures were available the more the site would skew male. I think what the data shows us … is that women use online dating as an actual service for what it was intended…. Some male users are using dating sites more just to look at pictures of women.”

That seems to be a pretty good summary, Mr. Tancer. Why are we not surprised?

Women are notorious for faking orgasms. Reasons for doing so range from not being able to, just wanting to get it over with, not being in the mood, or not wanting to hurt a lover’s feelings. What isn’t quite as well known is the frequency at which men fake orgasms. A recent poll conducted by Lavalife indicates that 48% of the over 9,000 men polled have faked an orgasm at least once.

For women, it’s a bit easier to pull off, but for men, faking it can be tricky. According to the poll responses, the easiest way to fake it is with using a condom. Men who used a condom when they faked it simply told their partners that they didn’t ejaculate much. Sneaky.

The reasons men faked it were actually quite similar to those of women: tiredness, just wanting to get it over with, or not being into the sex that night. Others felt they were lacking an emotional connection, and some were afraid they were going to lose their erection.

Still, women are by far the worst offenders when it comes to faking an orgasm. The Lavalife poll of over 6,000 women revealed that 82% have faked it.