The way we talk about sex in relationships is weird: not in that we discuss it too much, but - quite the opposite - that we don't seem to bring up the subject enough. And that's strange, right? How is it that we have enough confidence to go ahead and mash genitals with another person, but that we're too coy to just let them know exactly what it is that we do or don't want in the bedroom?
Maybe it's because we're too shy to discuss the subject, or perhaps we don't realize we're doing anything wrong, or, most likely, we're too scared to face up to what the answer might be when we ask how we could improve our game.
Fortunately, though, for those who do want to get better in the sack (but are too chicken to ask their partner how exactly to do that), the internet has answers. A recent survey by BodyLogicMD questioned more than 1,000 people on what they enjoyed in the bedroom, and, more importantly, what they didn't.
In the survey, researchers questioned volunteers on everything from what sort of anatomy would be ideal for their partner to have to how often they wanted to engage in certain sex acts - and some of the results were rather surprising.
When it came to what men and women wanted more of in the bedroom, for example, four out of the top five options for each gender were different - but the same thing grabbed the top spot in each case: more foreplay.
By contrast, the other four options picked by those surveyed were fairly different, with men ranking anal sex in second place, threesomes or group sex in third, oral sex in forth, and trying out different positions in fifth. Women, meanwhile, considered new positions to be more important in second place, put use of toys in third, more sex in general in fourth, and more oral sex in fifth.
And that wasn't the only major difference.
When it came to body type, it transpired that, for those attracted to women, bigger breasts were more desirable (no surprises there, though). In fact, a quarter of people preferred women whose boobs were "fuller on top", and nearly one in five would rather their boobs be fuller on the bottom.
People who liked men, on the other hand, were asked what sort of penis shape they liked best. Astoundingly, a huge majority of 76 per cent preferred members which had either a pronounced or slight curve to them.
The questionnaire also found a difference in libido, stating:
"As our survey found, men and women operate on different wavelengths when it comes to their ideal sexual frequency. While women preferred engaging in anal sex rarely and oral sex sometimes, men wanted more. On average, people had sex three times a week, including oral sex twice a week and anal sex roughly once a month. That might not be enough for men, though, who admitted to preferring anal sex occasionally and oral sex frequently."
However, as women said that they wanted "more sex", but guys didn't, it seems that there may be some exaggeration in the answers given. After all, the data was all self-reported, and it is likely that some people would alter their answers or lie about certain aspects of their behavior in order to conform to what they think is normal.
Either way, though, it is still very likely that both men and women do want more foreplay - which is actually a good thing! Now you can know that, next time you're getting your other half in the mood, you're enjoying it just as much as they are. Unless you meant more foreplay for yourself, in which case you have a thing or two to learn about reciprocity, my friend...