(108) Using the YouTube’s Polling Platform to Characterize Viewers' Sexual Practices
Authors: Himmelberger A , Elsafty M , Messafi A , Malik R 
Published: February 2024

Introduction

Research has been limited on the general population's understanding and insight into achievement of orgasm, prevalence and types of non-traditional sex practices and fetishes, masturbation frequency and motivation, erotica use, and knowledge about genital anatomy. Additionally there are research gaps regarding the way people interact with health information on social media.

Objective

This research aims to close these gaps and provide physicians with information to better address patients’ sexual health and wellness needs.

Methods

An online social media community was recruited to participate in a survey about sexual practices. The survey was distributed through community posts over two weeks to allow adequate time for respondents to answer. The survey consisted of questions on these topics: demographics, youtube content interactions, masturbation practices, masturbation and partnered sex, sexual practices, safe sexual practices, male external genital anatomy, and female external genital anatomy. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze results.

Results

Between 670 to 18,000 respondents answered the poll questions. Demographic data indicated that there were a wide range of respondents; 61% of respondents were from North America, 20% from Asia and Australia, 13% from Europe, 3.6% from Africa, and 2.3% from Asia. The age range of participants were split with 18 to 29 year olds making up 24 %, 30 to 44 year olds making up 31 %, 40 to 59 year olds making up 26 %, and those over 60 making up 19 %. Respondents were overwhelmingly male and straight, at 95 % and 91 % respectively. The vast majority of respondents were able to successfully identify basic female and male genital anatomy. Regarding sexual practices, 76 % of respondents masturbated daily or weekly, 90 % did not feel significant shame regarding masturbation, and 69 % used erotic films for masturbation. Most respondents were able to orgasm from masturbation and the primary motivations for masturbation were sexual pleasure, stress relief and lack of a sexual partner. Over 70 % of respondents were able to orgasm from penetrative intercourse; when unable to masturbate the most common barriers were psychologic at 51 %. There was a wide range of times that it took to achieve orgasm during sex, with the most common being 5-10 minutes for 36 % of respondents. Survey takers were split on whether they used YouTube as their primary source of health information, with 46 % using youtube as their primary source.

Conclusions

Our survey found that YouTube was a primary source of health knowledge for a significant percentage of people, indicating the importance of having high quality health information available on social media. Most participants were able to correctly identify genital anatomy. Data on masturbation practices showed that most participants masturbate relatively frequently, are able to orgasm and use masturbation for sexual pleasure, stress relief and due to lack of a sexual partner. Most respondents were also able to orgasm during penetrative intercourse, and the biggest barrier for those unable to orgasm was psychosocial. This data helps illustrate attitudes and practices among a largely male heterosexual population regarding sexual practices.

Disclosure

No.