How to conduct a sex survey
A British survey of sexual habits is precise, clear and involves absolutely no smut
Nobody wanted “cunnilingus”: too much of a mouthful. Besides, the researchers feared people wouldn’t know what it meant. “Fellatio” was avoided for similar reasons. “Making love”, “having it off”, “going all the way”, “going to bed with” and “sleeping with” were all also avoided by the authors of the questionnaires—too oblique. “Fucking”, “bonking” and “screwing” were out too: too slangy. Research among the public indicated that they should also avoid the word “abstinence” (“absti-what?”). But most people felt that they did have a handle on “chastity”: that, as one respondent put it, was “like the pope or Cliff Richard”.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “How was it for you?”
Britain January 28th 2023
- Britain’s carmaking industry is increasingly under threat
- Britain is beginning to protect its 1970s leisure centres
- Rishi Sunak’s hapless government
- Britain has fewer hospital beds than almost any other rich country
- Illness is stopping Britons from coming back to work
- How to conduct a sex survey
- Blat, the Soviet art of getting by, comes to Britain
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