BY  Karen S. Peterson

        Thirty-two percent of conservative Protestant women always have orgasms - slightly more than mainline Protestant women (27%), Catholics (26%), and women who profess no religion at all (22%).
        Such tidbits are easily culled from the morass of statistics in the National Health and Social Life Survey, to be released Monday in two new books.
        Academics will be drawn to The Social Organization of Sexuality (University of Chicago Press, $49.95, Edward Laumann, primary author).
        More reader friendly is Sex in America (Little Brown, $22.95, Robert T. Michael, primary author).
        More nuggets by category, as listed in Sex in America:
        -- Duration of sex. More men with live-ins (23%) than married men (9%) took an hour or more for their most recent sex act.
        The most common length of time is 15 minutes to an hour (men, 69%; women, 71%).
        More non-religious men (26%) and women (20%) have sex that lasts at least an hour than do those with various religious preferences.
        More black men (25%) and black women (22%) spend at least an hour on sex than white men (19%) and women (14%) or Hispanic men (16%) or women (16%).
        -- Frequency of sex. Over-all, about one-third of Americans have sex at least twice a week; one-third a few times a month; one-third a few times a year or no sex partners at all.
        -- Sexual practices. Group sex is "very appealing" to more men (14%) than women (1%).
        Watching a partner undress is very appealing to more men (50%) than women (30%).
        Giving oral sex is appealing to more men (37%) than women (19%).
        More women call receiving oral sex "very appealing" (33%) than giving it (19%).
        -- Number of partners in the last year. Most men (67%) and women (75%) have had only one partner. Those 18-24 were most apt to have had five or more (9%). Only 4% of those 30-39 and 2% of those 40-49 have had five or more.
        No partners at all were reported by 11% of those 18-24, and 10% of those 35-39.
        Reasons for first intercourse. More women (48%) than men (25%) cited affection for partner. Men (51%) cited curiosity more than women (24%). About one-fifth (21%) of women cited their wedding night; men, 7%.
        -- Sexual thoughts: More men (54%) than women (19%) think about sex at least every day.
        -- More women (67%) than men (43%) think about sex from a few times weekly to a few times monthly; more women (14%) than men (4%) think about it virtually never.
        -- Forced sex: About one-fifth of women (22%) have been forced to do something sexually by a man at some time in their lives; just 3% of men say they have forced a woman.

Behind closed doors

In spite of all the chatter about infidelity, most Americans have been monogamous in past year:

Number of sex partners in past year

           Men      Women 
0          9.9%    13.6% 
1        66.7%    74.7% 
2-4     18.3%    10.0% 
5+       5.1%      1.7%

Source: Social Organization of Sexuality

Both men and women claim to take their time in the bedroom:

                               Men   Women 
15 min. or less        11%      15% 
15 min.-1 hr.            69%      71% 
1 hr. or more           20%      15%

Source: Sex in America

We've read it before, and it's true: Men reach orgasm more often than women.

Frequency of orgasm with primary partner

                     Men      Women 
Always              75%      29% 
Usually             20%      42% 
Sometimes        3%       21% 
Rarely/never      2%        8%

Source: Sex in America

Americans are not having as much sex as we think. But at least the neighbors aren't doing any better than we are:

Frequency of sex in the past year

                                      Men      Women   Married 
Not at all                           9.8%    13.6%       1.3% 
A few times per year       17.6%    16.1%     12.8% 
A few times per month    35.5%    37.2%     42.5% 
2-3 times a week             29.5%    26.3%     36.1% 
4 or more times a week   7.7%      6.7%        7.3%

Source: Social Organization of Sexuality