Way back in May, I started a survey on period sex. I said I would do the analysis when we hit 600 respondents. Well, I give up. We hit 490 and it’s sat there for the last two months. I stopped badgering the mailing list about it months ago, so I doubt it’s going to go anywhere. However, if you still want to fill it out, you can here.
This was all to answer a question someone asked in our anonymous question page back in January. Hopefully she’s still following the blog.
How many couples have sex while the wife is on her period? My husband and I have been married for almost 8 years. The idea of having sex with me while I’m menstruating has always kind of grossed him out. I am the higher drive partner, and this time of the month is usually when I want sex the most. I’m curious, is it “normal” for husbands to have a hands off policy during this week?
So, here we go. Almost 500 Christians answer the question:
Do Christians have sex during their wife’s period?
Let’s just answer the question right off the bat this time.
- No – 40%
- Yes, but only when it’s light – 36%
- Yes, anytime – 24%
Well, there you have it. The majority of Christians have sex during their wife’s period. More information and the reader’s question are below.
What is your attitude towards period sex?
- I’m up for it, but my spouse isn’t – 32%
- My spouse wants to, but I don’t – 8%
- Neither of us wants to – 24%
- We both want to – 36%
I suspected that our readers are more comfortable with the idea of period sex, and their spouses who didn’t fill out the survey are not. But, that doesn’t always seem to be the case. When we split by gender, we see a few differences:
- Only 3% of men said their wife wants to have sex during their period, but they don’t want to themselves
- 43% of men said they’d love to have sex during their wife’s period, but she doesn’t want to
- 16% of wives said they wanted to have sex, but their husband didn’t and another 16% said it was the other way around
What is your reaction to period sex?
- It’s amazing – 13%
- It’s mentally uncomfortable – 23%
- It’s no different than sex at other times – 44%
- It’s not as good as sex at other times – 13%
- It’s physically uncomfortable – 5%
- It’s spiritually uncomfortable (moral issue) – 3%
Men and women generally agreed on this question. Except for these two responses:
- 28% of women said it was mentally uncomfortable compared to 20% of men
- 37% of women said it was no different than sex at other times compared to 49% of men
Seems the “ickiness” of it gets to the women more than the men. I’d sort of expect that. Generally men get more aroused than the women, and so the grossness factor would be offset by that because your definition of gross changes when you’re aroused.
Are you likely to have period sex again in the future?
I’m not going to list all the permutations I checked, but here are some highlights.
As you’d expect, those who don’t engage in period sex are unlikely to do so in the future. However, 10% of those who don’t currently have period said said they are likely to in the future. Interesting. Especially since 17% of them said the idea was spiritual uncomfortable. So, they think it’s wrong, but they think it’s likely they are going to do it in the future.
98% of women who are willing to have period sex any time said they’d likely do it again in the future. Only 80% of men did though. Not sure what’s going on there. For those who answered that they have period sex when it’s light, only 80% said they would in the future. I thought that might be due to age, but when I took out anyone over the age of 55, it only went up to 82%. And again, we have a small contingent of women of think having sex during their period is morally wrong, but they do it, and think it’s likely they will again in the future.
What other activities do you engage in during her/your period?
I’ll just list them off
- Manual sex for him – 57%
- Manual sex for her – 37%
- Oral sex for him – 52%
- Oral sex for her – 11%
- Anal sex – 8%
- Mutual Masturbation – 25%
All together, about 76% of the people who answer do something sexual where the husband receives pleasure, and 52% do something where the wife does (assuming she enjoys anal sex) during this time.
How “normal” is it for a low-drive husbands to not want to have sex during their wife’s period?
So, to answer the original question, males who are the lower-drive spouse and don’t want sex during the period, but their wife does make up about 3% of our respondents. However, another 4% say that neither spouse wants to in that situation. So, it’s about 8% of all men who are low-drive and won’t want sex during their wife’s period. I’d call that pretty “normal”. Not average, but normal.
It is pretty average when you only look at lower-drive husbands. If you’re only looking at those responses, then it’s about 39% of them who aren’t interested in sex during their wife’s period.
I hope that answers your questions.
If there’s a question you’d like answered from this survey, let me know and I can check.