Sex by numbers: What do we know about the love lives of others?

Cinema and magazines would have us think everyone is having more and better sex than us. So what do we know about people’s sex lives? Suzanne Harrington looks through the keyhole.

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics — so where does that leave statistics dealing with a subject which often attracts enormous amounts of lying? Yes, sex. We are terrible when it comes to talking about sex with any degree of honesty, in case we sound like we are doing it wrong, or worse, not doing it enough.

Not doing it enough is something of a social crime. And statistics are like plasticine — you can bend and shape them to suit almost any outcome.