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1 What is the latest news/ research/ breakthrough in sexology?

Let’s first start with the overall groundbreaking findings that changed Western understanding of sexuality (Some of those had been actually know since at least two thousand years by other cultures – Egyptian, Chinese, and Indian):

1. There are four phases of human sexual response: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution. (Masters and Johnson are widely recognised for this theory)

2. Women are capable of multiple orgasms — In studying the sexual response cycle of men and women, Masters and Johnson learned that women were capable of multiple orgasms after the resolution phase. The team quashed the “idea that women were not as sexually voracious as men” by claiming that “women could achieve five or six orgasms in as many minutes, while men had to leave the field for a ‘refractory’ period of an hour after every performance,” The Telegraph writes.

3. Homosexuality is not a mental illness — In a 1979 book, Masters and Johnson debunked the idea that homosexuality was a mental illness (though controversially claimed to have successfully “converted” 70% of men and women who were dissatisfied with their homosexuality). Until 1973, homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association.

4. Masturbation does not make people sick or cause insanity — Before the 20th century, most American physicians regarded masturbation as a “dangerous” sexual act that could cause illness.

5. Most men masturbate — Master and Johnson’s research confirmed Kinsey’s earlier findings: Masturbation is common. In his 1948 book, “Sexual Behaviour in the Human Male,” Kinsey found that 92% of men masturbated.

6. Actually, everyone masturbates — In 1953, Kinsey published his second volume, “Sexual Behaviour in the Human Female,” in which he reported that 62% of women said they had masturbated.

7. Americans are more sexually adventurous than previously thought — Kinsey recognised that most sexual acts that were frowned upon were regularly taking place behind closed doors. For example, he reported that 48.9% of married couple had engaged in oral sex, 11% of married males had had anal sex, and nearly half of married females slept naked. He also found that around half of married men had had extramarital affairs and 69% of white men paid to have sex with prostitutes.

8. Sex before marriage is not uncommon — Kinsey reported that between 67-98% of men had had premarital sex, depending on socioeconomic status, and around 50% of women had engaged in premarital sex.

9. Women peak sexually in their 30s — According to Kinsey, men reach their sexual peak before age 20, whereas women hit their sexual prime in their early-30s. Kinsey’s research was based on orgasm frequency and probably corresponded to hormonal levels (i.e. men are easily aroused during their teenage years because of high testosterone levels and women’s oestrogen levels fall off at menopause around age 50). Today the idea that everyone reaches their sexual peak at the same age is seen as outdated since other physical and emotional factors must be considered.

10. A quick treatment for sexual dysfunctions — Before 1970, sexual dysfunctions like premature ejaculation or impotence were only thought treatable with long-term psychotherapy. Masters and Johnson developed an intense therapy program that involved just two weeks of daily treatment. No drugs or surgery were involved. The therapy sessions were attended by couples — not individuals — where the man and woman learned how to communicate about their problems in the bedroom. This method had an 80% success rate.

11. There is no actual age when sexual abilities disappear — Masters and Johnson were the first to conduct research on how older adults perform during sex. They found that women and men in their 70s were still able to orgasm.

In the last decades there were other groundbreaking findings:

1. Homosexuality is not caused by a single gene but seems to be heavily influenced by hormones in the maternal womb.

2. More brothers and being a younger sibling makes it more probable that you develop androphilic tendencies.

3. The ratio of digit lengths 2d:4d is correlated with female but not with male homosexuality.

4. Frequent sex is linked to better memory.

5. Frequent masturbation as young adult is linked to have a less probability to develop cancer of the prostate.

6. Vaginal pain even without intercourse is real.

7. Vaginismus can be successfully treated.

8. Many more people have sexual fantasies that were thought to be exclusive only to people with specific fetishes.

9. Not all orgasms are experienced as pleasurable.

10. The clitoris is a much bigger organ than previously thought: It is not just the small visible part but closes around all of the vaginal opening.

2 Do you know how many sexologists are there? 

Academic sexologist maybe a couple of thousand all over the world; non-academic sexologists would be in the ten thousands.

3 In Asia, are there any sexologists?

It depends heavily on the different countries. In Vietnam, I would be hard pressed to name a single one; Singapore has at least one. In China, there should be at least a hundred, the same in India. I wouldn’t call medical doctors who perform plastic surgery on genitals sexologists, though. If you include those there are certainly hundreds more.

4 What is the picture of sexology in your country and around the world?

Haha, quite unpleasant: “A bunch of perverts who have sex either at the universities with students or in their private practice with their client.” and “You don’t need to know anything about sex, just do it.” Fortunately, our students and clients know that’s not true.