Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady....

How many times a week is considered normal? Average? Above average? Just plain pathetic? Down right nasty.? Let's just put it out there to focus group. In order to really answer this age old question, one needs to consider the circumstances. Categorically speaking, lets break it down to two:

There's the coupled group: marrieds, cohabitants, seriously committed's, together forever's and exclusives.

Then there's the singles category: singles, friends with benefits', the promiscuous...'s, serial daters, the sexual adventurers and, of course, sluts and ho's. (both male and female)

Both important and viable categories, but their answers will differ greatly. And may surprise you.

According to Yvonne K. Fulbright, author, sex educator, relationship expert, columnist and founder of Sexuality Source Inc, "90 percent of American men and 94 percent of women are having sex up to five times per week." NO WAY, really???? Does this mean that if you are not a part of this statistic and you are hovering in that lonely 6-10 percent, that you are somehow ABNORMAL?

Dr. Fulbright noted: "(Note: it’s the "up to" part of that survey that makes for the high percentages. Plus, sexually active people may be likelier to participate in this kind of survey)". Makes perfect sense. If your extremely active, then you have no problem shouting it out from the roof tops.

But here is where my "categories" theory takes a hit. It may not be as simple as breaking it down into groups. I found that there are many determining factors that may affect your frequency per week numbers. One of the most common determining factors for measuring the "normality of frequency" found in my research was AGE. Young hormonal boys, newly marrieds or couples that have just gotten together tend to have a much more active sex life than a couple that has been together for a while and people over forty. On the flip side of that, people in their forties are having less sex than people in their twenties, but more sex than people older than them.

We also must take into account the stage of life you are in. Research would suggest that young people, free of major responsibilities; IE; kids, mortgage, career, simply have more time for sex and possibly more opportunity. Whereas just marrieds, starting a family and beginning their careers, and over forties most certainly have the opportunity, but may be too tired to perform all the time. Older, and more established couple's whose kids are grown also have ample opportunity but less desire.

Safe to say there is no"normal" other than what is normal for you and your partner. But, if you want to look at the averages scientifically collected that are out there, the average of frequency that I saw consistently is between 1-3 times per week. According to the Kinsey Institute, the largest group of couples having sex is 69 times per year which averages out to 1.3 times a week.

So really, no need to worry about keeping up with the Joneses.

I'd like to leave you with this cute little tidbit I found on Yahoo answers.com :

Resolved Question:
How many times a week is it normal to have sex?
I have been with my girlfriend for around 6 months, we have sex around 3 or 4 times a week. How many times is normal?

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Depends on the age group:

15 - 20 year old = Tri daily (three times a day)

20 - 30 year old = Tri weekly (three times a week)

30 - 40 years old = Tri monthly (three times a month)

40 - 65 year old = "Try oysters"

65 - 80 year old = "Try to Remember"