How these numbers were built — and what they are not

Rules of synthesis

1. 1. Prefer probability samples for prevalence. NSSHB (U.S.) and Natsal-3 (Britain) set masturbation, partnered-sex, and orgasm-at-last-event rates. Convenience samples never override them on those questions.
2. 2. Prefer direct measurement for daily counts. Fisher 2011's seven-day tally-counter study is the anchor for "thoughts per day." It is college-aged and American; the 30–40 thought count is inferred from Easton 2010's finding that 27–45-year-olds think about sex more, not from a second clicker study.
3. 3. Ranges are not confidence intervals. They fold study-to-study spread and the known width of individual variation. When a woman is at 1 thought/day and her friend is at 25, both are inside the real distribution.
4. 4. Pregnancy is a multiplier, not a sample. Trimester multipliers come from von Sydow's 59-study metacontent analysis, applied to the age baseline. Fetal-sex columns apply a ~3–4% hypothesized first-trimester nausea adjustment for girls and are labeled insufficient.
5. 5. Worldwide means Western-weighted. East Asian published frequencies run lower; much of the world has no comparable fantasy or masturbation data at all. Age-shape is more portable than absolute rates.
6. 6. Platform porn is not a census. Pornhub Insights and Lehmiller's fantasy survey describe what willing participants click or confess. They never override NSSHB on prevalence. Racial porn tags are male-search marketing, not a map of what women of those groups fantasize about.
7. 7. Postpartum is a multiplier on a healing body. Recovery traces are indexed to each woman's pre-pregnancy baseline, then split by nursing vs not. Barrett (problems), McDonald (pain), and Byrd (when sex resumes) set the anchors. Infant-sex columns are not drawn because nothing in that literature supports them.
8. 8. Orgasm is a reflex; squirting is plumbing. Masters and Johnson define the event as pelvic-floor contractions. Salama and Pastor define squirting as bladder urine plus a possible Skene’s splash. Retail toy lists never override Herbenick on how many women have used a vibrator.
9. 9. Vagus is a bypass, not a lifestyle. Komisaruk’s PET (n=3) and fMRI in complete SCI, plus rat nodose tracers, support a cranial path from cervix to NTS. They do not map typical partnered sex. Intact women still have pudendal, pelvic, and hypogastric nerves on the same tissue.

Coverage

Limits

• Almost every precise daily-count study is Western, English-speaking, and often college-based. 'Worldwide' is a geographic hope, not a sampling frame.
• Women under-report sexual thoughts when social-desirability scores are high (Fisher 2011). The 10-thoughts-per-day figure is a floor, not a ceiling.
• Desire, fantasy, enjoyment, and orgasm are different constructs. Collapsing them into 'how horny' hides the fact that activity peaks earlier than fantasy intensity.
• Individual standard deviations often match the mean. Group averages are a weather report, not a diagnosis.
• No large prospective study has shown that carrying a boy versus a girl changes maternal libido. The boy/girl columns exist because the question was asked; the scientific answer is overlap.
• Pregnancy estimates are trimester-averaged from metasyntheses, then applied to age baselines. They are scenario models, not new measurements.
• Hormonal contraception, antidepressants, relationship quality, sleep, and children dwarf age-band effects for any one woman.
• Pornhub Insights is traffic, not a population. Lehmiller is opt-in. Neither overrides NSSHB on how many women do a thing — only on what the willing clickers click.
• Race/ethnicity splits in U.S. surveys mostly track religiosity, acculturation, and disclosure, not a biological kink menu. Industry racial porn tags describe male search, not women's fantasies.
• Postpartum recovery curves are scenario models on Barrett, McDonald, Gutzeit, and O’Malley. Breastfeeding vs weaned is the real split; infant sex is not sampled because it has no demonstrated mechanism.
• Toy rankings are relative popularity among users, not a probability sample of every woman. Herbenick 2009 sets vibrator prevalence; retail lists set the mix. Session lengths mix JSM latency with convenience-sample session times.
• Squirting chemistry rests on small imaging studies (Salama n=7) plus biochemical reviews. Directionally consistent, not a large RCT. Porn volume is not a lab protocol.
• Komisaruk’s vagus claim is PET n=3 plus a small fMRI SCI series and rat tracers. A real bypass in the extreme case. Not a census of intact women’s orgasms.
• Nodose anatomy (inferior ganglion of X → caudal NTS) is textbook. A human cervical fibre in that ganglion is inferred from rat HRP, not from a human tracer study.

Sources

1. [1] 2011 · United States

   Fisher, T. D., Moore, Z. T., & Pittenger, M. J. Sex on the brain? An examination of frequency of sexual cognitions as a function of gender, erotophilia, and social desirability. Journal of Sex Research.

   283 U.S. college students (163 women) using tally counters for 7 days

   Daily sexual thoughts (women ≈ 10/day; men ≈ 19/day). Social-desirability bias lowers women's reported counts.

2. [2] 2010 · United States

   Easton, J. A., Confer, J. C., Goetz, C. D., & Buss, D. M. Reproduction expediting: Sexual motivations, fantasy, and the ovulatory cycle. Personality and Individual Differences.

   College + community women, N = 827, ages 18–46+

   Women 27–45 reported thinking about sex more often, more frequent and intense fantasies, and more intercourse than women 18–26 or 46+.

3. [3] 1992 · United States

   Purifoy, F. E., Grodsky, A., & Giambra, L. M. The relationship of sexual daydreaming to sexual activity, sexual drive, and sexual attitudes for women across the life-span. Archives of Sexual Behavior.

   Women across adulthood

   Women 26–35 reported more sexual fantasies than younger and older women.

4. [4] 2010 · United States

   Herbenick, D., Reece, M., Schick, V., Sanders, S. A., Dodge, B., & Fortenberry, J. D. Sexual behavior in the United States: Results from a national probability sample of men and women ages 14–94. Journal of Sexual Medicine.

   National probability sample, 5,865 adults (2,929 women)

   Masturbation past-month prevalence by age; partnered sex highest for women 20–29; orgasm at last event ≈ 64% of women.

5. [5] 2022 · United States

   Herbenick, D. et al. Masturbation prevalence, frequency, reasons, and associations with partnered sex. Archives of Sexual Behavior.

   U.S. adults; rates exceeding 40% past-month masturbation only for women 20–29

   Confirms 20s as the female masturbation-prevalence peak in recent U.S. data.

6. [6] 2022 · Norway / Northern Europe

   Fischer, N., Graham, C. A., Træen, B., & Hald, G. M. Prevalence of masturbation and associated factors among older adults in Norway. Archives of Sexual Behavior / related Norwegian probability work.

   Norwegian probability sample; women and men 18–89

   Most women who masturbate do so 2–3 times per month (mode). 18–49 women show similar patterns; 66% of women reported past-month masturbation in that sample.

7. [7] 2018 · United States

   Frederick, D. A., John, H. K. S., Garcia, J. R., & Lloyd, E. A. Differences in orgasm frequency among gay, lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual men and women in a U.S. national sample. Archives of Sexual Behavior.

   U.S. adults, N ≈ 52,588

   Heterosexual women orgasm in ~65% of partnered encounters; lesbian women ~86%; masturbation orgasm rates far higher (~90%+).

8. [8] 2022 · United Kingdom

   YouGov. The orgasm gap: 61% of men, but only 30% of women, say they orgasm every time they have sex.

   British adults, nationally representative YouGov panel

   30% of women always orgasm during sex; 27% most occasions; 15% sometimes; 10% rarely; 7% never. Straight women lowest 'always' rate (30%); lesbian women 40%.

9. [9] 2013 · United Kingdom

   Mercer, C. H. et al. Changes in sexual attitudes and lifestyles in Britain through the life course and over time: findings from Natsal-3. The Lancet.

   15,162 residents of Britain aged 16–74

   Partnered sexual frequency and life-course patterns. Sexually active adults report a median of roughly 3–4 occasions in the past four weeks; frequency has declined across decades while remaining highest in early adulthood.

10. [10] 1995 · Mostly North America / Western Europe

    Leitenberg, H., & Henning, K. Sexual fantasy. Psychological Bulletin.

    Review of studies; 90–97% of women report sexual fantasies

    Near-universal presence of sexual fantasy in women; men report higher daily counts of elaborated fantasies in several older samples.

11. [11] 1999 · International (mostly Western)

    von Sydow, K. Sexuality during pregnancy and after childbirth: A metacontent analysis of 59 studies. Journal of Psychosomatic Research.

    Metasynthesis of 59 empirical studies

    Sexual interest typically falls in the first trimester, recovers or rises in the second, and falls again in the third. Most couples remain sexually active at some point in pregnancy.

12. [12] 2000 · Canada

    Bartellas, E., Crane, J. M., Daley, M., Bennett, K., & Hutchens, D. Sexuality and sexual activity in pregnancy. BJOG.

    141 pregnant women in antenatal care

    Coital frequency declines across pregnancy; concerns about harming the fetus are common and often unfounded in low-risk pregnancies.

13. [13] 2020 · United States

    Sim, L. et al. Changes in prenatal testosterone and sexual desire in expectant couples. Hormones and Behavior.

    Expectant mothers and fathers, longitudinal prenatal assays

    Maternal testosterone rises across pregnancy and is negatively associated with dyadic (partnered) desire — the opposite of the 'more T = hornier' folk model.

14. [14] 2017 · International

    Morley, R. / The Conversation. Are maternal hormones different when carrying a boy or a girl? (review of hCG, estrogen, testosterone literature).

    Narrative review of endocrine studies

    Maternal blood testosterone does not differ by fetal sex. hCG is slightly higher with female fetuses. Estrogen in maternal serum is not reliably higher with girls. Amniotic (fetal) testosterone is higher with male fetuses — that is the baby's hormone, not the mother's circulating T.

15. [15] 2006 · United States / Western samples

    Pillsworth, E. G., Haselton, M. G., & Buss, D. M. Ovulatory shifts in female sexual desire. Journal of Sex Research / related cycle literature.

    Cycling women, within-subject designs

    Sexual desire and initiating behavior rise in the fertile window (roughly cycle days 10–16) relative to the luteal and menstrual phases — often the largest within-person swing in a given month.

16. [16] 2015 · Mostly Western

    Joyal, C. C., Cossette, A., & Lapierre, V. What exactly is an unusual sexual fantasy? Journal of Sexual Medicine.

    Internet sample, 1,516 adults (799 women) rating 55 fantasy themes

    Only 2 of 55 themes were statistically rare (child; animal). Romantic emotion and oral sex are typical for women. Being dominated or tied is common, not unusual.

17. [17] 2018 · United States

    Lehmiller, J. J. Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire (Kinsey Institute survey).

    Largest U.S. fantasy survey (thousands of adults; convenience / opt-in)

    Seven recurring themes across demographics: multipartner, BDSM/power, novelty, taboo, passion/romance, same-sex flexibility, nonmonogamy. Threesomes ~89% had fantasized. Not a probability sample — rates are ceilings.

18. [18] 2009 · United States

    Bivona, J., & Critelli, J. The nature of women's rape fantasies: Prevalence, frequency, and contents. Journal of Sex Research.

    355 female undergraduates

    62% had a rape fantasy; median ~4 times/year among those who did. Almost always a desired person and a script the woman still frames. Not a desire for real sexual assault.

19. [19] 2025 · Global platform, Western-weighted

    Pornhub Insights. 2025 Year in Review (and 2016 'Women Searching for Women').

    Pornhub traffic; women 38% of worldwide visits. Not a probability sample.

    Women's top categories: lesbian, Japanese, MILF, anal. Women over-index vs men on Reality (+155%), Popular with Women (+102%), pussy licking (+99%). Lesbian search is +31% in women 18–24 and falls with age.

20. [20] 2010 · United States

    Dodge, B., Reece, M., Herbenick, D. et al. Sexual health among U.S. Black and Hispanic men and women: a nationally representative study. Journal of Sexual Medicine.

    NSSHB race/ethnicity splits

    Descriptive ethnic differences in reported behaviors. Partnered sex is not lower among Black women; masturbation reporting often is.

21. [21] 2023 · United States

    Herbenick, D. et al. Masturbation prevalence, frequency, reasons (Archives of Sexual Behavior) — race as a covariate.

    U.S. adults

    Black non-Hispanic and other non-Hispanic respondents less likely than White to report recent/frequent masturbation after covariates. Interpreted here as reporting + religiosity, not a kink difference.

22. [22] 2002 · United States

    Okazaki, S. Influences of culture on Asian Americans' sexuality. Journal of Sex Research.

    Review of U.S. Asian-American samples

    More conservative sexual-attitude scores; the gap shrinks with acculturation. Culture, not a racial fetish profile.

23. [23] 2016 · United States

    Cruz, A. The Color of Kink: Black Women, BDSM, and Pornography.

    Qualitative / cultural study, not a prevalence survey

    Race-play is a contested BDSM niche. People of color in kink scenes report discrimination; that is not evidence of a different desire menu.

24. [24] 2011 · International / U.S.

    Wallen, K., & Lloyd, E. A. Female sexual arousal: genital anatomy and orgasm. Hormones and Behavior / related reviews. Event-level NSSHB orgasm work.

    Anatomical and survey synthesis

    Most women's orgasms require clitoral stimulation. Penetration-alone rates hover around the high teens. Pregnancy does not reverse this.

25. [25] 2023 · International

    Healthline; obstetric clinical summaries on orgasm in pregnancy (vascular congestion, trimester pattern).

    Clinical review, not a new trial

    Increased pelvic blood flow can make orgasms more intense, especially second trimester. Safe in uncomplicated pregnancy. Anxiety and bulk are the usual inhibitors.

26. [26] 2000 · United Kingdom

    Barrett, G., Pendry, E., Peacock, J., Victor, C., Thakar, R., & Manyonda, I. Women's sexual health after childbirth. BJOG.

    484 first-time mothers, UK, asked at 6 months

    83% some sexual problem in the first 3 months postpartum; 64% at 6 months — not back to pre-pregnancy. 62% dyspareunia at some point in months 0–3.

27. [27] 2016 · Australia

    McDonald, E. A., Gartland, D., Small, R., & Brown, S. J. Frequency, severity and persistence of postnatal dyspareunia. Midwifery / related Maternal Health Study papers.

    Australian prospective cohort, >1,000 women

    86% pain on first postnatal vaginal sex. Dyspareunia ~45% at 3 months, ~43% at 6 months, ~28% at 12 months among those who had resumed.

28. [28] 2019 · International

    Gutzeit, O., Levy, G., & Lowenstein, L. Postpartum female sexual function: risk factors for postpartum sexual dysfunction. Sexual Medicine reviews / PMC7042171.

    Review of postpartum sexual-function studies

    89% resume sexual activity within 6 months. Dysfunction prevalence 41–83% depending on definition and month.

29. [29] 2021 · International

    O’Malley, D., Higgins, A., & Smith, V. Exploring the complexities of postpartum sexual health. Current Sexual Health Reports.

    Narrative review of recent postpartum sexual-health literature

    Breastfeeding AOR ~1.9 for dyspareunia and ~2.2 for loss of interest at 6 and 12 months. Pre-existing dyspareunia is a stronger predictor than mode of birth after adjustment.

30. [30] 1998 · United States

    Byrd, J. E., Hyde, J. S., DeLamater, J. D., & Plant, E. A. Sexuality during pregnancy and the year postpartum. Journal of Family Practice.

    Couples followed through pregnancy and the first postpartum year

    Mean resumption of intercourse 7.3 weeks postpartum, with wide variability.

31. [31] 2009 · United States

    Herbenick, D. et al. Prevalence and characteristics of vibrator use by women in the United States. Journal of Sexual Medicine.

    Nationally representative, 2,056 U.S. women 18–60

    52.5% lifetime vibrator use; ~1 in 4 in the past month. Associated with better sexual function, few side effects.

32. [32] 2018 · Western samples

    Rowland, D. L. et al. / ISSM summary. Orgasm latency during masturbation vs partnered sex. Journal of Sexual Medicine.

    Women reporting orgasm latency in both contexts

    Mean ~8 minutes to orgasm masturbating vs ~14 minutes with a partner.

33. [33] 1966 · United States

    Masters, W. H., & Johnson, V. E. Human Sexual Response.

    Laboratory observation of sexual response cycles

    Orgasm as rhythmic pelvic-floor contractions (~0.8 s). The spasm is the event. Anal sphincter commonly participates in genital orgasm.

34. [34] 2005 · Australia

    O’Connell, H. E., Sanjeevan, K. V., & Hutson, J. M. Anatomy of the clitoris. Journal of Urology / related papers.

    Anatomical dissection

    The clitoris is a large internal structure. ‘G-spot’ maps onto internal clitoris + urethral sponge + Skene’s, not a unique organ.

35. [35] 1990 · Laboratory

    Ortega-Villalobos, M. et al. / Komisaruk lab. Vagus nerve-uterus connections: HRP from rat cervix/uterus labels the nodose ganglion (1990) and subsequent subdiaphragmatic vagotomy experiments.

    Rats; tracer plus selective nerve cuts

    HRP into rat uterine walls labeled nodose ganglion cells and the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus. Sensory and motor vagal innervation of the uterus in the rodent. Foundation for the human SCI claim.

36. [36] 2021 · International

    Neuhuber, W. L., & Berthoud, H. R. Functional anatomy of the vagus system. Autonomic Neuroscience / PMC8627476.

    Anatomical review, human and rodent

    Nodose is a spindle just below the skull base. Subdiaphragmatic visceral afferents are almost confined to nodose, not jugular. Reviews rat uterine vagal tracing (Ortega-Villalobos 1990; Collins 1999).

37. [37] 2022 · International

    Prescott, S. L., & Liberles, S. D. Internal senses of the vagus nerve. Neuron.

    Review of vagal sensory neurobiology

    Jugular vs nodose: different origins and central targets. Nodose → caudal NTS / area postrema; jugular → paratrigeminal. ~100,000 vagal sensory neurons per side in humans. Glutamatergic (VGLUT2).

38. [38] 1996 · United States

    Whipple, B., Gerdes, C. A., & Komisaruk, B. R. Sexual response to self-stimulation in women with complete spinal cord injury. Journal of Sex Research / related 1996–97 papers.

    Women with complete mid-thoracic SCI

    Perceptual responses, analgesia, and in some cases orgasm to vaginal/cervical self-stimulation despite complete SCI — the clinical puzzle the vagus was proposed to solve.

39. [39] 2002 · United States

    Komisaruk, B. R. et al. Brain (PET) responses to vaginal-cervical self-stimulation in women with complete spinal cord injury. Brain Research / related PET-MRI.

    2 women with complete SCI, 1 uninjured control

    Cervical self-stimulation activated the NTS region. Foot stimulation in SCI did not activate somatosensory thalamus. n=3, directional.

40. [40] 2004 · United States

    Komisaruk, B. R. et al. Brain activation during vaginocervical self-stimulation and orgasm in women with complete spinal cord injury. Brain Research.

    Women with complete SCI; fMRI during cervical self-stimulation

    Vagus as a spinal-cord-bypass for vaginal-cervical sensibility. NTS-region activation. Three women reached orgasm during cervical self-stimulation. Finger analgesia during CSS.

41. [41] 2015 · France

    Salama, S. et al. Nature and origin of ‘squirting’ in female sexuality. Journal of Sexual Medicine.

    7 women; pelvic ultrasound before/during/after squirting plus biochemistry

    Bladder fills then empties. Fluid matches urine (urea, creatinine, uric acid). PSA from Skene’s present in 5/7 — a contribution, not the volume.

42. [42] 2022 · International

    Pastor, Z., & Chmel, R. Female ejaculation and squirting as similar but completely different phenomena. Clinical Anatomy.

    Narrative review of biochemical and imaging studies

    Squirting ≥10 ml transurethral from the bladder (urine). Female ejaculation = a few ml thick PSA-rich Skene’s fluid. Different mechanisms. Can co-occur.