Survey: 39% of single men say oral sex is appropriate on first date

DALLAS, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Nearly 4-in-10 single U.S. men say oral sex or intercourse is appropriate on a first date versus fewer than 1-in-10 women, a survey by Match.com indicates.

The online dating service found 39 percent of single men say oral sex is appropriate on a first date versus 7 percent of women. When it comes to intercourse, the breakdown is 37 percent of men and 8 percent of women.

Match.com says in its fourth annual "Singles in America" survey, 85 percent of men say kissing is appropriate on a first date versus 70 percent of women.

U.S. singles are more than three times more likely to have met their most recent first date online than the 8 percent who say they met at work or the 6 percent who say they met at a bar or club.

First dates may be more serious than many think -- 51 percent of singles say they imagined a future together while on a first date -- 56 percent of men and 48 percent women.

On a first date, both sexes agree they would rather not discuss past relationships, politics or religion.

Sixty percent of singles had sex at least once last year, but about two-thirds of singles say they desire more sex this year, the survey found.

However, the ideal frequency of sex for both men and women with a familiar partner is two or three times per week. Only 15 percent of men and 12 percent of women say they'd ideally want to have sex every day.

Sixty-five percent of men and 69 percent of women say 10 p.m. is the ideal time to have sex.

Singles spend nearly $61.53 per month on dating-related activities, totaling about $738.36 each year per individual. With 111 million singles in the United States, this amounts to about $82 billion annually, Match.com says.

Seventy-five percent of singles would date someone from a different ethnic background, while 70 percent of singles would date someone of a different religious background and more half of singles approve of partners having children out of wedlock.

The survey was conducted by Research Now in association with anthropologist Helen Fisher and evolutionary biologist Justin R. Garcia of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University.

The 2013 study is based on the attitudes and behaviors taken from a representative sample of 5,329 U.S. singles ages 18 to 70. No margin of error was provided.