By Ashley Traupman

Last month, psychologists at the University of Texas at Austin released a study compiled from responses by thousands of Americans that outlined the 237 reasons why people have sex. Some popular stereotypes were refuted and the researchers found that men and women want sex for very similar reasons.

The No. 1 reason why both men and women said they have sex was they were attracted to the other person. Other popular reasons were they wanted to experience the pleasure and that it feels good. Some less common reasons included to keep warm, burn calories and help themselves fall asleep.

My favorite abnormal reason was that they thought having sex would help relieve a headache. I frequently get headaches, and they often lead to migraines, but the last thing I would ever think of to cure my headache was sex. I don’t think I would ever ask the person who gave this answer for advice; they should have tried taking Tylenol.

Amused by this idea, I brought it up in conversation with a fellow female. She said when she has a headache she is very tense and usually stressed out, so having sex relaxes her thus ridding her of the headache. I guess that makes some sense.

Another favorite reason was because they wanted to change the subject of conversation. It seems unconventional. I would like to know how that conversation went. I imagine it’d be something like this:

“I am so angry with you.”

“Let’s just have sex so you will forget why you are mad.”

I wonder if a person would actually get laid after that comment. If a guy said that to me, I would slap him across the face.

‘Every person defines their sexuality differently and we all desire different things. Apparently there are 237 different reasons why we have sex and there are millions of people sharing these motives.

In our society, we assume men think about sex from a physical standpoint and women have sex because they are looking for love, but this study shows that both sexes are doing it for pleasure.

Until the sexual revolution began in the 1960s, it was only socially acceptable to have sex for reproductive purposes. But now sex is not as stigmatized and people seek it for enjoyment. People openly talk about sex, it is present in the media and children informally learn about it from peers starting at an early age.

We first learn about sex as a child in our homes. We then talk about sex with our friends and see it portrayed constantly on television, in movies and through music. There is no escaping sex.

Among the 237 reasons for sex are three that seem rather similar: “someone dared me,” “I wanted to gain acceptance from friends” and “my friends were having sex and I wanted to fit in.” Those surveyed are among many who admit to having sex because the felt they needed to prove something to others. They have sex because of peer pressure and because they want others to think they can hook up with anyone they are attracted to.

There has always been a double standard for sexuality. But lately, gender-related sterotypes have changed. Women who used to be called sluts may not seem so slutty after all. Guys who used to have tons of girls don’t seem to get away with it now.

Having sex for the sake for pleasure is no longer seen as wrong. That does not mean people are necessarily practicing safe sex. In the survey, one of the reasons given—– for having sex was to purposely give their partner a sexually transmitted disease.

In recent years, sex has reached the mainstream. As demonstrated by the survey, most people now separate sexual behavior from love. There is also more attention given to the orgasm and people have multiple sex partners instead of waiting until marriage for sex. There is now a more accepted universal interest in sexual experimentation.

Sex is fun. So go out this weekend and have fun. Just remember to play safe.

-Ashley Traupman can be reached at [email protected]