Wow, Laura... all of this is great stuff. Thank you! Hope your survey is still rolling along.

Sometimes I really admire psychology as a field for being progressive... but it's had its setbacks, too. If I'm not mistaken, the female orgasm was once considered "abnormal"--the effect of overstimulation!

I think I would agree with the Kinsey number of 11% "seriously interested." However, I think 90% of those either don't talk about it at all, or only talk about it in anonymous spaces (the internet). Excellent point, and so simple as to almost be overlooked, that a comparison to hardcore porn sales vs. serial killings/rapes demonstrates at a glance that most people who buy/use porn are not dangerous.

I had almost forgotten about this, but back about 8 years ago, when I was a freshman in college (the first time!), I actually had the guts to tell a psychologist (not a therapist or professor, just a friend) that I thought it would be interesting to study sex. He asked what I meant in particular. I said, "You know... why we like the things we do... what it has to do with our personalities, our self image, etc." (Really what I meant was that I had discovered an aspect of sex I didn't know existed, and I was dying to find a way to piece it into my identity. But that's another story.)

He told me exactly what your instructors have told you--that nothing is really going on in that area. He said I could study fertility or STDs or even sexual dysfunction, but that the "fun" parts of sex were basically unimportant.

But if we're going to make stuff illegal that so many people like, it might be worth knowing why they like it.

Happy holidays! I know you'll be busy rounding up data in the next few weeks... but I hope you'll share your findings when you're ready!