Let us consider some of Kinsey’s pronouncements in the light of legitimate sex research, namely a national survey conducted at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago that was published in 1994. More than 3,400 men and women, ages 18-59, were selected at random for in-depth interviews. 

This scientifically conducted survey found that:

Married couples had more sex than unmarried singles.

Faithful married couples reported more enjoyment of sex, physically and especially emotionally, than singles or couples who are not married.

People with more than one sexual partner in the last year were the least emotionally satisfied.

Married couples with conservative religious values reported the most sexual physical and emotional fulfillment. Married couples with no religious identification reported the least, although still more than couples who weren’t married.

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Chapter 7

The researchers concluded that sex, like any other activity, has a social meaning. The context in which sexual activity occurs has a great impact on how it is perceived and experienced. A “hook-up” has a vastly different meaning than sex within a committed relationship. Hook-up sex is focused only on the physical arousal and release that most animals experience when they have intercourse. This level of sex is regulated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which regulates the heart, digestion, breathing, salivation, perspiration, diameter of the pupils, urination, and sexual arousal. If we were ruled only by the ANS, hook-up sex would be satisfying.

Due to a brain chemical called dopamine, which gives a charge of excitement and “rewards” us for having the courage to take an action with an uncertain outcome, short-term sex can indeed seem satisfying. Dopamine is values-neutral. It cannot tell right from wrong, beneficial from harmful.