YET another scientific study has been done on a basic response that goes back to early humans – female sexuality.

And one more small light bulb has been switched on for men still remaining in the dark.

Contrary to popular perception, a woman does not need plenty of foreplay in order to achieve sexual satisfaction.

Instead, what women want is longer intercourse.

This is a key finding of a study conducted in three waves (1993, 1998 and 2003) under the supervision of the Institute of Sexology, Charles University, Prague.

Researchers have found that of the over 2,000 women surveyed in the study, foreplay lasted for an average of 15 minutes and intercourse for 16 minutes.

The time spent on intercourse was correlated with orgasm consistency, but the time spent on foreplay was not.

Simultaneous orgasms

The study said women tend to reach orgasms together with their partners more as a result of intercourse and the length of the intercourse, than as a result of foreplay and the length of foreplay.

So, it’s still the men’s ability to have and sustain an erection that is important, according to the study.

If some men have difficulty in this area, a pill can help, said a separate study.

Researchers studied 159 men who were randomised to receive either fixed-dose Levitra 10 mg or placebo for four weeks.

This was followed by a one-week wash-out period, which is more than enough time to wash out any left-over effects of the drug in the system.

The study subjects were then switched over – those who started on Levitra received placebo and those who started on placebo received Levitra.

They were instructed to take the study medication an hour before attempting intercourse.

The men were given a simple stopwatch that was started at the point the erection was perceived hard enough for penetration. The timer was stopped immediately after withdrawal.

This is the first time researchers have used a stopwatch to quantify the response to a PDE5 inhibitor, which are drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED).

The study showed that over the four-week treatment period, when the men took Levitra, they achieved an average duration of almost 13 minutes of erection during intercourse, versus 51/2 minutes with the placebo.

The 13 minutes come close to the average time of 16minutes of intercourse, reported by the women in the first survey.

The scientific four-week study was conducted in the US.
Said Dr Michael Wong, medical director of Singapore Urology and Fertility Centre, Mount Elizabeth Hospital and president of the Singapore Urology Association: “More attention should be given to improve the quality and duration of intercourse rather than foreplay.”

In contrast, many sex therapists have been emphasising foreplay instead.

The study of men is the first study on ED that used the duration of an erection as a key performance index.

Previously, the key performance index for such drugs, which also include Viagra and Cialis, was the firmness of erection.

The study was funded by Bayer Schering Pharma, the company which manufactures Levitra.

This article was first published in The New Paper