HOW WE 'DO IT' NEW GUYS-VS.-GALS SEX SURVEY PROVES THAT LIFE IS 'LUST' CAUSE
By DAN MANGAN
Birds do it, bees do it, and American men and woman certainly enjoy doing it - but often in very different ways.
That's the finding of a new survey of sexual habits, desires and quirks in the United States being published jointly this month by Esquire and Marie Claire, two magazines normally tailored to the separate interests of men and women.
The random-sample survey - of more than 1,700 people between the ages of 21 and 49 - found that 90 percent of American men and 94 percent of women are having sex five or fewer times per week.
But they're often not "doing it" with their spouses or significant others. Nearly 50 percent of men said they have cheated - or would do so, given the chance - while just 34 percent of women answered "yes" to that question.
And when asked, "What do you want more of?" men had a clear preference for oral sex - performed on them, of course - while women craved an erotic massage. Men, on average, have had sex with 14 people in their life, three more than the average woman.
Women said they surfed the 'Net for pornography for 11/2 hours per week, while the average man lingered online about an hour longer to leer at lusty images - and was more than twice as likely to peruse porn at work.
The genders also diverge when it comes to preferred sexual positions.
Doggy-style was the preferred randy position for 31 percent of men, while the same percentage of women said they preferred the plain- vanilla missionary position.
Sexual tastes also apparently are tied with one's political leaning, according to the survey. Republican men are more likely to want to have a woman on top of them during sex, while Democratic guys favor doggy-style.
When it comes to checking out new frontiers, 35 percent of women said they'd be willing to try sex on a plane and 13 percent said they'd tackle an orgy.
And the younger a woman, the more likely she was to trim or wax her nether regions. Just 16 percent of women in their 20s said they go for the "all natural" look, while nearly 45 percent of women in their 40s did so.
David Katz, an editor at Esquire, said the survey confirmed some commonly held assumptions, such as men masturbating much more frequently than women - 4.9 times per week vs. 2.8 times - and being more likely to cheat.
But there were some surprising findings, such as the positive role technology has played in helping people hook up.
In fact, 59 percent of men and 52 percent of the women surveyed said their BlackBerrys, PDAs or cellphones had helped, rather than hurt, their sex lives, with 34 percent of men and 29 percent of women saying they used the devices to instigate sex.
Just 12 percent of men and 7 percent of women said they had answered a work call or e-mail while having sex.
"Maybe [technology] is hindering intimacy, but it's certainly not hindering people getting it on," Katz said.
Lucy Kaylin, executive editor of Marie Claire, said "it did sort of surprise me" that 17 percent of women surveyed are surfing the 'Net for porn.
"I think of that as being a really male activity, but with the 'Net, we have more access than ever to porn and I think you're going to see those numbers rising in the coming years," she said.
"I feel it was funny to find that men's No. 1 one turn-on is looks, and women's is kindness - although women's No. 3 turn-on is looks," Kaylin said. "We're capable of shallowness as well."
The online survey was conducted by Beta Research Corp., a Long Island market-research company. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.3 percent.
* Women are more attracted to a man if they think other women like him, too, according to a study from a Scottish University. The test had the opposite effect on men, however - possibly because they're more competitive.
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INTIMATE DETAILS: Here are some findings of a sex survey of 1,738 American men and women, ages 21 to 49, commissioned by Esquire and Marie Claire magazines. <http://www.nypost.com/seven/01172007/photos/ news006.jpg>