Sex in America
In 1992, highly regarded social scientists Robert T. Michael, John H. Gagnon, and Edward O. Laumann embarked on an unprecedented study of America's sex life. Working through the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, their staff of 220 interviewers spent seven months interviewing 3,432 specifically selected respondents about all aspects of their sex lives, histories and beliefs. More important, unlike the famous but inherently flawed reports of Alfred Kinsey, Redbook and Playboy magazines, Sher Hite, Samuel and Cynthia Janus, and others, this survey relied on a random sample of Americans rather than on an unrepresentative group of volunteers. The resulting data how society shapes even our private sexual experiences. They show not just why we are the way we are, but what it might take to change this behavior.
Sure to arouse considerable controversy, the survey directly contradicts many of the conclusions of previous reports and defies widely held conventional wisdom about America's sexual practices and beliefs, with startling revelations about:
- How often people have sex, how may partners they have, and where they meet them
- The likelihood that the AIDS epidemic will spread into the heterosexual population
- What people like to do in bed
- How many Americans are homosexual
- The incidence of forced sex
- Why some people are more satisfied with their sex lives than others
After years of misleading statistics and unsubstantiated claims, Sex in America presents a comprehensive, reliable look at America's collective sex life, the definitive word on American sexuality today.
Robert T. Michael John H Gagnon, Edward O. Laumann, and Gina Kolata. Sex in America: A Definitive Survey. First Edition. Boston, New York, Toronto, London: Little, Brown and Company, 1994. Hardcover. viii+300 pp.
