Female sexuality in two samples of New Zealand women

Abstract

The sexuality of New Zealand women, their preferences and their practices, was compared in a questionnaire administered to two groups of New Zealand women. The first sample contained six hundred and forty-five women who attended the United Women's Convention in 1977. The second sample included seventy women who replied to a postal questionnaire sent to a random selection from the Hamilton East electoral roll. The questionnaire was loosely based on Hite's (1976) study of the sexuality of American women. The questionnaire examined the respondent's sexual preferences, fantasy, masturbation, orgasm, partner related questions and questions on oral sex. A feminist orientation scale was devised to determine feminist bias, in particular in the first sample. The respondents proved to be unrepresentative of the general population. They were predominantly Pakeha, highly educated, with a high percentage in professional or managerial positions. These women are orgasmic and enjoy it, they masturbate, enjoy fantasies and do not experience orgasm from a penis in vagina only. Following research by Kinsey et al. (1953), Masters and Johnson (1966) and Hite (1976), this study confirms the clitoris as women's orgasmic organ.