April 20, 2010

The 1992 "Librarians and Sex Survey" … Long censored, but now revealed

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Gawker reports here on a previously censored study by Will Manley, a retired librarian, who sent a survey about sex to the subscriber list of The Wilson Library Bulletin (“a professional journal published for librarians from 1914-1995”) in 1992. 5,000 librarians responded, but the Bulletin refused to run the results… though they were of course quite interesting. According to Gawker, the study found:

40% believed that “Playboy” should be in libraries
23% thought “Playgirl” should
22% believed that libraries should have condom dispensers in their bathrooms
20% had “done it” in the library
91% had read “The Joy of Sex”
34% lost their virginity before age 18
4% were still virgins
20% believed that sex without love is bad sex
Only 1% had sex more than 7 times per week
50% had sex 1-2 times per week
30% had 2-5 partners in their lifetime
4% had more than 50
78% of female librarians felt they had been sexually harassed by a patron
7% of male librarians did

As well as Gawker’s favorite fact:

When asked to pick the Shakespearean title that best described their first sexual encounter, 28% chose Comedy of Errors;  23% chose Midsummer’s Night Dream; 22% chose Much Ado About Nothing;  21% chose All’s Well That Ends Well; and 6% chose Rape of Lucrece.

Kelly Burdick is the executive editor of Melville House.

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